Switched with an Idiot!
by Prodigy99
Summary: *REVISED* Ranma and Akane have made some mistakes; some minor, some major, all stupid and avoidable. But what happens when they manage to make the biggest mistake of all time - switchong bodies! Lessons are to be learned from this. Chapter 6 FINALLY up!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is a rewrite of my previous story also called "Switched with an Idiot!" As stated before, there was a huge time gap between my short chapters/cheesiness/bad timeline writing days and now, so I've decided to do a complete overhaul of this story. ENJOY!**

**P.S: Remember to review!**

**I obviously don't own anything/one in this story except the plot!**

* * *

**_Chapter 1_**

Ranma peered up from his comic book to the ceiling of his room. Though quite a few rooms passed in between his almost hollow guest room and her comfy, well-decorated bedroom, it did nothing to stop Akane's constant hacking from reaching his ears.

He'd realized earlier, when the usually alert and energetic Akane Tendo had fallen asleep during class, that she was sick. He, however, had no idea that it would be this bad. Whenever Akane had a simple cold, she'd still found the energy to hit and shout at him. She hadn't spoken one word to him all night.

To make matters worse, this was seemingly the perfect moment for everyone to leave himself and Akane alone. _'Take care of Akane, boy. Get to know her.'_ Mr. Tendo really had a way of laying down the law. He wasn't a caretaker. He wasn't her sister. He wasn't her mom. He was just… her fiancé.

Ranma winced as another sneeze reached his ears. Sitting up, he looked out of the window at the setting sun. He had no clue of what the others were up to on this particular Friday, but he did know that all of the residents of the Tendo household were urged from the house by his scheming father and told not to return until late that night.

"A-Achoo!"

_'What were they thinking?'_ Ranma thought to himself. Throwing his unfinished comic book to one corner of the room he stood and set off towards Akane's room. He paused and braced himself for a moody outburst from the naturally violent Akane.

"I'm coming in, Akane," he said, disregarding the concept of knocking. He waited for a response and when it didn't come, he entered.

Ranma took in the sight of the haggard Akane. Her nose, eyes, and cheeks were all red in contrast to her pale skin. She sat nestled under a bundle of blankets with a box of tissue and a bag of ice on her nightstand.

She looked to him with sick, watery eyes and made a miserable grunting sound.

"You look terrible, Akane," Ranma said, only half-jokingly.

"You sure know how to make a girl feel better," Akane said. She leaned against her pillows and closed her eyes. "Now if you don't mind, I'd prefer to sleep than deal with you right now."

Ranma sighed and walked closer to her bed. He put his hand to her forehead. Akane's eyes opened and she readied her hand to swat him away. Before she could, Ranma retracted his hand quickly.

"Oh, man. You've got one heck of a fever." Ranma cleared his throat as she stared defiantly at him. "Do you need something?"

Akane was about to let her pride talk for her until she grimaced, as if she had just realized that she really did feel terrible. She smiled coyly at him before pressing herself against her pillows again. "I'll take some tea, some medicine, and maybe a book or two. If that's not asking too much." She calmed her face to seem pitiful yet angelic.

Ranma sighed exasperatedly. "I only asked if you needed somethin'. I didn't say I'd be your servant," he mumbled, closing her door behind him.

Akane's widened grin was lost on his retreating back.

* * *

Ranma scrambled through his guest room. Piles of clothes and souvenirs from the past were scattered amongst the floor. The room began to look festive as many more of Ranma's, his Pop's, and Happosai's possessions flew through the air and onto the floor. He had already started the water for some tea and had scrounged together a few novels and magazines – the lovey-dovey, superstitious crap that girls seemed to like – for Akane to read. Now, he continued ripping contents from his dressers that he shared in search for the 'Old Saotome Recipe' that had helped Akane when she was sick so long ago.

"We usually always have some ingredients somewhere. I wonder if we finally ran ou-" Ranma's fingers skimmed across a package of some sort in Happosai's personal dresser. It felt similar to what Ranma was looking for so he quickly yanked the package from the drawer. To his dismay, it was scrawled in Chinese.

He was about to give up his search and throw the package down grudgingly when something caught his eye. In a small corner it was a small drawing of a sad-looking girl and next to her was another girl, seemingly delighted. He had no clue as to why the two girls looked nothing alike, but he took it as a good sign anyway.

He began to skim through the words on the back of the package and, to his delight, he could actually understand some of them. He made out "_Sick_", "_Pain_", "_Remedy_", "_Better_", and "_Sleep_". At least he could find some medicine; promising too. He gazed longingly at the Chinese written word, sleep. A sleeping Akane meant a quite Akane. He grinned and pocketed the package and made his way downstairs toward the whistling kettle. He'd have to thank Shampoo later for all of her attempted Chinese love potions.

Ranma reached the kitchen, fixed two cups of tea, and took out the medicine package. It was in a sort of pill form and from its broken description, it seemed like some sort of pain killer. He carelessly ripped open the package and took one of the two pills within. It was small, red, round, and looked particularly harmless. He shrugged and placed it on the tray will all of the other things Akane had practically demanded him to bring.

"Like I'm a maid… not my fault… sick, uncute, girl…" he mumbled on his way towards Akane's room, awkwardly balancing two cups of tea, a few books and magazines, and a little red pill that could easily get lost, on one tray. He stopped just short of the crack in her door and opened it with his foot.

"Ay, Akane," he said propping his foot against the door to keep it open. Her eyes opened and fluttered to him. Then, there was the pathetic, ever-so-forced, angelic smile of hers.

"Thank you, Ranma," she said, adding a touch of Nabiki's coldness to her voice. Ranma shivered. Since when had she become so manipulative?

"Yeah, Yeah. Just swallow the pill," he mumbled as he looked away from her. After thirty seconds he turned his head to investigate why there was no smart retort from her. She sat looking intently at the small red pill.

"What's wrong with it?" He asked. She looked up at him baffled and rolled the pill in her hand.

"What is this? I can't see any name imprinted on it and it isn't the same thing you gave me last time. Where'd you get it from?"

Ranma sighed and took the package with the other pill from his pocket and gave it to her. "I can actually read some of it. It's some type of Chinese pain killer." She gave him a skeptical look as she reviewed the package without understanding it at all.

"Listen, it's better than nothing. I'm pretty sure that it's a pain killer, Akane." He read her the words he could make out on the package, and she nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I'll take it. B-but I'd feel better if you took the other one, you know, just to be safe." Akane stuttered. She took the package and handed him the pill.

Ranma sighed in resignation and put the pill in his mouth and took his cup of tea. It was just one pain killer pill. What could go wrong if he took it? Without hesitation he downed the pill and tea. After placing the cup on the tray he met her chocolate eyes and smiled reassuringly. "See. Nothing wrong with it."

Akane managed a hesitant smile and drank her own tea with the pill. "Thanks again, Ranma."

Ranma muttered and clicked the door closed behind him as he left.

* * *

After rigorous channel flipping, Ranma gave into the nothing-to-watch syndrome and went to settle his grumbling stomach. Just as he opened the refrigerator door he heard tentative footsteps nearing. Akane was in bed sick. Wasn't she? The footsteps came louder and louder and when they were right behind him Ranma twirled to find Akane smiling behind him.

"Scare you?" She smirked.

"Wait, I thought you were sick. You know… super stay-in-bed sick. Why are you up?" he asked. _'More than that… I thought that pain killer was supposed to make you sleep,' _he thought and wanted to add, but he knew better.

"Honestly, I don't know. I took the pill and five minutes later I started getting all of this energy and started feeling better. Now I'm just really hungry." She pushed pass him and started her scavenge through the refrigerator.

Ranma looked down at his grumbling stomach. It could be they just didn't have any dinner or it could just be some weird side effect of the pill. He shrugged it off and grabbed some leftover dinner from the refrigerator.

Both he and Akane sat quietly at the dining table indulging the delight that was Kasumi's cooking. Ranma picked up his chopsticks and fulfilled his appetite with a few bites of a pork bun. He was baffled. Not even when he was sick had he eaten so little… and at such a moderate pace. He looked up to Akane who was, without hesitating, shoving her bowl full of rice into her mouth.

"Hungry?" Ranma asked with a raised eyebrow. Akane looked up at him with her mouth stuffed full. She swallowed and put her chopsticks down.

"No. Well… not anymore." Akane looked confusedly at her food. She'd just been stuffing her face and now she wasn't hungry?

Ranma suddenly felt his stomach hollow out and hesitated before picking up his chopsticks again. He was just full… wasn't he? He devoured the remainder of the meal, including Akane's portion and washed the dishes, ignoring the strange occurrence for now.

* * *

Akane steered herself towards the dojo. She was feeling much better… for now. For some strange reason, migraines spasmodically leapt into her brain and would leave her feeling drained.

She reached the dojo and stripped herself of her yellow pajama top leaving her in her yellow pajama bottoms and a revealing gray tank top. She'd been receiving many hot flashes lately also. That medicine Ranma gave sure had a lot of side effects. _'Was it even worth taking?'_

There was no reason to go to bed now that she was awake and well, so she began a simple kata.

One Punch.

One Hook.

One Jab.

Two Kicks.

A blinding headache had stopped her in her tracks for a moment but when it faded, things seem amazingly clearer to her. Her simple kata suddenly picked up in speed and complexity and soon she reached a level near impossible for her, usually. It wasn't long before she heard hard clumsy footsteps behind her that she realized that Ranma had joined her. A stunned look adorned his face to her excitement. Could he finally be realizing her for her skill?

She watched closely as Ranma tried to follow her footsteps but clumsily tripped over his own feet and lashed out extremely incorrect punches.

"What the hell?" Ranma swore. He tried getting up but sat down promptly, holding his head in what seemed like excruciating pain.

"R-Ranma? What's wro-" Akane grabbed her head in a way similar to Ranma's. Within a minute, it was over and they slowly turned their heads to stare at each other, confusion etched on their faces.

"What… what was that?" Akane asked nervously. She tried to demonstrate her skill by flipping herself to her feet only to fall on her back again. Ranma leapt to his feet and pulled her up by one hand.

"I don't know but this ain't normal," he said. He bit his lip as if in concentration.

"No kidding. So, I'm not the only one getting these terrible headaches?"

"No… I've been getting them since I went to go get dinner," Ranma said. "Have other weird things-"

"Constantly," Akane cut him off. Where had she developed her advanced skills from a moment earlier? She stifled a huge yawn and rubbed her eyes. "I don't know what's going on, Ranma. I'm not up for this anymore. Suddenly, I'm just really tired."

Ranma stretched his arms behind his head and yawned. "You ain't the only one." He reached his hand into his pants pocket and fiddled with the package that had contained the pills.

"It's impossible for you to be cured that fast, Akane. You should go get some sleep… just to make sure," he said.

Akane rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like you ever cared. Besides, you seem pretty tired yourself. Why don't you go and get some sleep, hm?"

"Because unlike some tomboys, I'm not sick and I'm a guy. Guys don't let sleep get to them so easily. We're built for this kind of stuff."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Akane hissed. Her eyes were already feeling quite heavy but if it was a challenge he wanted, he'd sure as heck get one!

"I'm just saying, Akane, no matter how much you act and look like a boy, you just ain't a boy. We can do things you girls can't."

"Let me tell you something, Ranma." Akane stepped daringly close to his face, brows furrowed and lips thin. "We _girls_ have it much harder than you idiot boys _AND_ on top of that, we still manage to be smarter and better than you idiots at… at everything!"

"You wish!" Ranma spat back. He crossed his arms over his muscled chest, as if to exploit his masculinity, and looked away from Akane, nose high in the air. "You couldn't beat me at anything if you tried, unless it was a 'who-can-ruin-food-faster' race, let alone stay up later."

"Let's just see!" Akane said.

* * *

She stormed all the way to her room and ordered Ranma to follow. Before long, they were in Akane's room. She slammed the door shut behind them, momentarily boosting their alertness. They took their places on opposite sides of the room.

Akane crossed her arms and sat poised on her bed. Ranma took his place on her floor, legs crossed and eyes boring holes into her.

"You should give up now. You know I'm gonna win," Ranma said matter-o-factly.

"In your dreams," Akane said.

Ranma watched as Akane's eyes drooped several times and then popped back open. He had been secretly biting his tongue to keep himself awake, but the effect was starting to wear off. He let his mind drift and his eyes became glazed.

How had such a stupid argument turned into this? Not that he would ever turn down a challenge, especially one from Akane that didn't involve physical contact, but he was really starting to regret his decision. He could have just let her go on thinking she was better than him, knowing she was wrong. But _no_, he just had to go prove himself didn't he? Now, not only was he depriving a possibly sick girl from much needed rest… he was also on the verge of losing his own challenge. Estimating from the time that appeared on her clock, they had already been up to this for about half an hour.

He cracked his neck to the side and watched as Akane mocked him. Her eyes drooped and closed.

"Giving up?" Ranma asked with a wary smirk. Akane's head popped up quickly. Ranma cursed himself. If he had let her sleep he would've won and also been on his way to sleep himself.

"N-nope," Akane said half-heartedly. Her eyes were red and her face was pale. Could she be getting sick again?

"M-me neither," he said.

Both of their eyes were forcibly opened wide and their gazes locked. Suddenly, the room doubled and the life draining headache was back for another round. The room distorted into many different shapes and turned a variety of colors. At first glance, he could tell Akane was experiencing the same by the way she held her head and winced. Yet, their stares never deterred from each other's eyes. His vision darkened until he could just barely make out Akane's silhouette.

"Akane?"

"Ranma?"

And with a flash they were both indulging in much needed rest of unknown causes.

* * *

Akane could make out the annoying whine of her nearby alarm clock. She couldn't remember exactly what had gone on before she'd fallen asleep but she did remember herself being exceedingly tired. She awoke from her slumber with a curve to her lips and a stretch on her soft mattress, although, this morning it did seem a bit… hard? The sun that shined through her sheer curtains tinged her closed eyelids red and she turned her head in contemplation.

This Saturday morning would be a great one. She'd bathe, go jogging, eat breakfast… the usual. Then she'd go rub it in Ranma's face that she's won the alleged challenge of who could stay up later. She could vaguely remember him walking from her room saying something about giving up. Her grin grew wider. It would be a great Saturday indeed.

She stretched her arm out to her side only to hit it on something hard. Lifting her eyelids slowly, she saw that her closet door had been the obstruction.

"What the-?" Her closet wasn't supposed to be here by her bed. Her hand slid down the door only to feel her fingers settle on a soft carpet. Her eyes shot open wide and her eyebrows furrowed. She wasn't on her bed… she was on the floor?

Without another thought Akane shot from her comfortable position on the floor and let her eyes wander around the room. Everything was fine; nothing out of place. She was a somewhat violent sleeper. She could've perhaps fallen off of her bed last night.

Her eyes continued their scan of her bedroom passing everything with a green light. That is, until they settled upon her bed. It wasn't a messy, empty, bed with disheveled sheets as she expected. That would've only confirmed her theory. Instead, a figure was lying in her bed, peacefully resting. Its gray tank top and yellow pajama bottoms fit its figure adorably and… familiarly.

Akane's breath caught in her throat as a sudden realization made its way to her brain. It was her – her own body.

But if she was her… that who was she and… WHAT?!

Akane smacked her face to wake herself from the nightmare she thought she was experiencing, but it was to no avail. Her hands traveled from her stinging cheek down her body. A well-muscled chest? Strong male-like abdomen? And… between her legs… WHAT WAS THAT?! With a slow and regretful turn of her head, she was facing her mirror. She wasn't a she… not at all. She was a… he. And she wasn't just any he. She was the he with the steel blue eyes. She was… Ranma?

The screech she had held within her had finally released itself, ten-fold, in a very male, deep, and husky tone.

* * *

Ranma was startled from his deep dreamless sleep by an ear splitting scream that nearly busted his ear drums. Wasn't it enough that he kept imagining an alarm clock going off? He had finally thought he was going to enjoy a peaceful sleep without his Pops snoring up the whole guest room but that was impossible in Ranma's world.

His consciousness had been awakened by the redundant alarm clock he thought he kept hearing and got him thinking about his day ahead of him. He was finally going to get some actual training done today. It had been three months since the wedding fiasco and since then, his training was slipping. Many times he had reconsidered that thought as his futon comforted him in ways it had never done before. It had felt almost like a real bed. Never had he wanted to skip out on training so much just to sleep.

Snapping back to the screeching that was deafening him he scrambled off of his… bed? He hadn't fallen asleep on a bed last night... had he? He could blurrily remember a past image of himself exiting Akane's room after seeing her drift off. He'd won their so-called challenge and went to get some well-deserved rest in his hollow guest room, right?

But if that was right, then why did it seem as if he was on Akane's bed. He looked down at himself. And in Akane's clothes? He stared down at the revealing gray tank top he was wearing. And in Akane's BODY?!

He bit down hard on his lip hoping it would wake him of this disturbing dream. Nothing happened, but he winced. He turned his head to the source of the unyielding screeching to find himself, Ranma Saotome, wailing in a very girlish manner.

But if he was looking at Ranma… and he was himself… WHAT THE-?!

Ranma could no longer hold it in and joined in the screeching with a tenor, shrill, and familiar tone.

Akane had eventually lost her breath and gasped for air and sanity. The Akane on her bad had enjoined in the screeching and had stopped to catch her breath too.

Their gazes locked and all was silent.

"Akane?"

"Ranma?"

* * *

**A/N: And there it is! Finally! I've been wanting to rewrite this story for forever! I'm so glad this chapter turned out as it did and I really hope everyone reviews and gives feedback like last time! Please anyone who reads this and has read my old version… please tell me what you think. Also, newcomers, you are VERY welcome to leaving your opinion also! Please do~ Tatty Bye~!**


	2. Chapter 2

If you're back for more… I've got it!

Please Read and Review !!  


* * *

  
Sunshine sparkled through the closed and stainless windows of Akane Tendo's room. The world was still spinning and birds still sung their happy good morning song. But. Something was out of place. Shock, confusion, and potential stress swirled from the auras of the two teens that occupied the room and created an undetectable wind that blew the curtains on the window.

Akane sat with her… or his… legs outstretched and a dumbstruck look adorning her masculine face. Her eyes were wide and she stared in awe… or maybe horror… at her body looking down on her with a dry and spaced out look. It was lucky that her previous screech session had drained so much energy from her because another shriek built up in her stomach from staring at 'herself'. Every plan, every smile, every bit of normality that had once filled her mind wisped in to strands of memories.

Meanwhile, Ranma stood opposite his exact male figure. His mouth agape and his tongue dry. He tried to lick his lips and speak but after realizing they weren't his lips, he decided against it. How he felt could be compared to someone knocking the breath out of him then, shoving his stomach to his throat. It was an awful feeling that left him quite dizzy and uneasy.

The awkward silence continued for another minute before Ranma cleared his throat.

"A-Akane?" he asked while testing it on his tongue. It was hard to look at his own face and ask Akane's name. Whoever it was sat, mouth slightly agape and head shaking in disbelief and remaining unresponsive.

"Ranma? I-is that you? I-in m-my body?" Akane finally stuttered while whispering at the same time. Ranma flinched at the sound of his voice being used by someone else. Not only was it unnerving… the way Akane stuttered, executed the manly composure Ranma usually tried to maintain.

Ranma's mouth opened and closed several times before he simply nodded, too stunned to verbally admit what was going on. He swallowed a lump in his throat and watched as Akane's… or rather his blue eyes water and turn red. He had never done a self analysis on himself when he was upset, but the way Akane was showing it now… he could see why people usually took his threats seriously.

Akane's jaw clenched and unclenched and her throat itched. All she could see was red… red and Ranma inside of her body. How? She had no clue. With that being noticed she bounded from her spot on the floor with one leap and grabbed her body by it's gray tank top and rammed it against the wall.

"What. Did. You. Do?!" she said through clenched teeth. Both pairs of eyes met and the intensity they held did nothing to soften the tension. Ranma stared defiantly through Akane's chocolate eyes and huffed up at his own strength being used against him.

"What do you mean 'What did I do?' I'm just as stumped as you are! I have no idea how the hell this happened or what's going on!" he said.

All breathing stopped for a moment and all that left was skeptic looks. Akane sighed in agitation and defeat and released her body from her strong grip.

"What is going on?" she whispered from Ranma's mouth. She looked over to the mirror again and simply stared. She was actually a male… she was actually in Ranma's body. She blinked and Ranma's mirror image blinked. She reached up to touch her face and Ranma's body did the same. Akane felt her lip quiver and she turned her face away from the mirror of realization.

"Don't you dare cry, Akane." Ranma half-heartedly spoke. The truth was, he almost wanted to cry himself. Seeing as he was in Akane's body right now it wouldn't do much to disrupt his male image. Still, he decided against it. "We'll fix this."

"FIX IT?! We don't even know how this happened so how are you supposed to-" To keep from lashing out Akane jammed her clenched fists into what used to be Ranma's pants pockets and she felt something crumple. Suddenly, she began to recall last night's event. She was sick. She kept feeling weird. Ranma said he was feeling weird too. She recalled eating, doing a kata, a few headaches, the contest. It all flashed through her mind quickly but it still felt as if she was missing something insignificant but important. She had blacked out and just then she recalled Ranma calling for her and herself calling for him. It was still something nagging her though. Without hesitation, Akane ripped the paper from Ranma's pocket. It was the package of the pill she had taken.

"T-the pill…" she whimpered.

Ranma cocked his head to the side and stared in contemplation at his once male form. "What?" he asked intelligently.

Akane still stared down at the Chinese package in disbelief. It was a pain killer, right? "Ranma… are you sure? Are you sure… this was just a pain killer?"

Ranma took the package from her and everything from the previous night flashed through his mind. Everything seemed normal and there was no reason to suspect the pill. From what he read… or understood… it was a pain killer. He scanned over the package once again to confirm his doubt filled thoughts and everything was right until his eyes reached something. The two girls; one sad on ecstatic. Could that mean…?

"Nope." Ranma replied. He looked up into Akane's now deep blue eyes and bit his lip. "I think those pills switched our bodies."

* * *

  
Nabiki gasped and nearly stumbled to the ground.

It was early that morning when everyone had awoken to the ear splitting scream that filled the Tendo Residence. Every Tendo and Genma had gathered in front of the door where the scream emitted from. Akane's room. Her father had been insistent on barging in but Nabiki quickly deterred him from the thought knowing that it had something to do with Ranma. And when there was a Ranma in trouble, there was a profit to be made.

It took some arguing but she finally convinced the rest of the household to continue what they were doing and let her handle the situation. She'd stood there for a good five minutes only hearing a simple "Akane?" being uttered by the voice of her younger sister. Akane wasn't prone to speaking in third person. The talking seized from there and Nabiki thought of walking away when, suddenly, one hell of an argument broke loose.

By the contents on the situation, Nabiki would have guessed that Ranma had finally decide to make a move on her sister, but by the voices of the speakers, it would seem otherwise.

It took a lot to confuse the cunning and sneaky Nabiki Tendo but, she had to admit she was stumped. She almost aborted her plan for profit to actually find out what was going on until she heard the last statement.

'I think those pills switched our bodies.' Akane's voiced echoed through her head and it didn't take long for her to adjust the pieces of the puzzle in her mind.

Akane was Ranma.

Ranma was Akane.

Little brother Ranma must've made some hell of mistake taking care of her baby sister last night. And to wake up in the same room? Now this was worth waking up early for.

She gathered herself together and pressed a bit more onto the door but the conversation remained dormant. She partially understood the cause of it. Who would have the nerve to speak after realizing they weren't themselves anymore?

With a look of satisfaction Nabiki began walking back to her room. This new information would prove very useful to her. For a moment, a frown took the place of her once triumphant smile. It involved Akane too. She still owed an apology to her baby sister for ruining her wedding by inviting 'the life of the party'. If she were to reveal her newly found information it could destroy the trust Akane had in her. Not that it was much, but it was still there. It could even involve her in a shotgun wedding by her father if this news happened to circulate to her family.

She couldn't risk it so she made the final decision to keep what was known to herself. Then, her triumphant smile was back.

Before entering her room she yawned loudly. "Good morning everyone!" she said in a purposely cheerful voice so that the two who occupied the room would become aware of her presence.

That didn't mean she couldn't have fun with it.

* * *

  
Ranma turned his head from staring at Akane to the door where he heard Nabiki's ever-so-cheerful voice yawn a good morning that the whole block could probably hear. Sudden panic caught in his chest and he became frantic.

"I got to get out of here." he hissed. From past experience, he knew that whenever someone caught him in Akane's room it never ended well.

He looked at the door and at the window. It was a better chance of him not getting caught if he went through the window. He threw the window open and prepared to jump when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. He found himself staring at 'himself' who had an expectant look on their face.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Akane asked. Ranma remembered that he was, for he time being, Akane and Akane was 'Ranma'. Tentatively, he stepped from the ledge of the window and stood in a confused and panicked stance.

"We can't let them catch 'Ranma' in your room. It'll be hell I'm telling you! HELL!"

"Well, I hope you have another plan because there is no way I'm- WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Before Akane could finish her sentence she was all ready being pushed towards the window. Braking herself with her hands against the wall, Akane turned and glared at her body.

"Why are you stopping?! You have to get out… they'll think you're Ranma!" Ranma hissed.

"Why can't I go through the-"

"Akane? Are you up? Breakfast is ready." Kasumi's melodic voice that could usually be compared to a lullaby pitched terror into the two teens. Ranma continued to push his body forward until it substituted as a curtain for the window.

"Just try to land on your feet. You won't die." Ranma said.

"Oh well that's promising." Akane retorted.

"JUST JUMP!"

With that, Akane shut her eyes, held her breath, and jumped from her own two-story high bedroom window. Air rushed beneath her feet and her heart flew to her throat. Mere seconds seemed like minutes as she fell and, finally, landed on her feet. The shock of the landing traveled through her feet and up to her spine, bringing her to her knees on the grass outside. She promised herself that when she figured this situation out, she'd kill Ranma.

"I'm coming down now, Kasumi!" she heard Ranma yell. Akane looked up to the window and glared as Ranma looked down at her through her own brown eyes.

"Didn't break anything did you? That's precious cargo." Without giving her time to respond, he shut the bedroom window. 'Precious cargo my foot.' Akane thought. 'I'll get back into my body and kick his 'precious cargo' into orbit!'

---

The situation at hand was proving quite difficult for Ranma to deal with. They could've had this figured out and he could be back in his own body right now, walking comfortably down the stairs, if it hadn't been for the interruptions of the older Tendo sisters. If it was a simple pill that caused them to switch, then it surely had to be something as simple to switch them back. He couldn't handle the things his mind kept wandering to any longer.

'Akane's body sure has a lot of-' he mentally slapped himself. It was good the switch hadn't altered his brain at all. Still, it wasn't good to put the mind of a seventeen year old boy in the body of a seventeen year old girl that said boy had been caught looking at several times.

'Even naked…' This time Ranma really slapped himself. Couldn't he just get to the table without his mind force feeding attractive mental images? If Akane could read his mind right now, surely he would've been kicked in a place where boys should never be kicked.

'But you're not a boy right now, are you? You're Akane Tendo, and what's in between your legs-' Ranma reached the last stair and sat down pinching his nose closed for fear of the blood streaming from it getting everywhere.

He needed his own body back. AND FAST.

* * *

  
After regaining feeling in her legs, Akane made her way to toward the back of the house where they always ate breakfast. Her feet still stung but she was over the initial shock of the jump and promised to give Ranma a severe beating later.

Still, she was unsure of how she was able to land on her feet. Her sense of balance had always been a little… off key. So why was it that, without much thought, she been able to perfectly land a jump from a second story window.

Could she have inherited Ranma's skills?

Well… inherited would be the wrong word. It was more like everything that was once hers was now Ranma's and everything that was Ranma's was now hers.

His looks. Her stomach growled… his appetite. She continued toward the house hoping to fill the bottomless pit that was Ranma's stomach with Kasumi's delicious food.

That's when she realized… she was 'Ranma'.

As redundant and obvious as that seemed, it had just dawned on Akane that being a boy meant having things girls didn't.

Akane's face was red as her attempt to keep from the subject of… Ranma, failed. Desperately she tried to make her way to the table without her stomach getting any tighter. She was in high school and that meant she'd taken the sex education class. She knew what happened to guys when they started to think perverted and she was certainly no pervert!

The table was in sight and so was everyone else who occupied the residence. Her gaze drifted toward her body and the blush was back full force. How was Ranma coping in her body? The red glow of her own face could tell her that Ranma's mind was strongly protesting to the constant insults he made about her body.

Akane almost smiled triumphantly at his notice but decided on a glower in his direction instead. If he was that embarrassed, he must have been thinking some pretty perverted stuff. She stepped to the table and sat down next to but as far always as possible from Ranma.

"Pervert." she steamed.

"Look who's talkin'." Ranma retorted.

Akane needed to fix this situation and fast. As soon as breakfast was over she'd drag Ranma somewhere and demand him to change her back and when he did, she give him one hell of a reprimanding… with her foot.  
If she were some normal girl from the countryside who went to a normal high school with her oh-so-normal friends and lived in a fiancé free home, she still be on the floor crying somewhere about becoming a boy.

Fortunately… or maybe unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

She lived in Nerima with her water-cursed fiancé who had a severe case of foot-in-mouth and couldn't go a day without a new martial arts challenge; went to a high school with a bunch of nut jobs who constantly kidnapped her challenged and fought her; and was constantly exposed to potions, deadly herbs, etc. This situation, she had to admit, was shocking. But, like everything else, there had to be a solution.

So she wasn't worried… that much. She just hoped this could be fixed as soon a possible.  


* * *

  
Ranma stole glances at his face while eating and, for once, savoring the delicious Kasumi handled breakfast. He immediately discovered that it didn't take much to fill Akane's stomach and he didn't require seconds. Akane, however, had been bringing her chopsticks to her mouth non-stop. It was almost as if they never left!

He couldn't help but smile a little bit. He knew he had an appetite but the way Akane was stuffing his mouth, it would seem as if he hadn't eaten in ten years.

His father, still hung over from whatever he was doing last night, was a lot more lax this morning. Ranma sighed with relief. Every time his father had gotten drunk, he was always too hung over to spar the next morning. Unfortunately, he usually made up for it the next morning. That gave him the whole day to switch back with Akane without her destroying his body.

If he could find the cure.

It wasn't his fault that his Chinese wasn't up to par. He was only trying to help the tomboy get better… or at least get her to sleep. And.. Of course, that failed miserably.

With everything he had been through involving potions, pills, and herbs this was in his top ten. After his nosebleed gone wild scenario, he realized that he'd been a girl before and being like this, in Akane's body, didn't really feel that much different. He still felt empty where it shouldn't and heavy where it shouldn't be.  
Still, Akane's body was different. Everything he did seemed to remind him of whose body he occupied. Everything he touched, everything that touched him. It was annoying actually. If he could get through breakfast without any suspicions, he'd fix this and go back to viewing Akane from afar. At least he didn't get a nosebleed just looking.

Now, just to finish breakfast.

"Hey, Ranma, Akane. What did you guys do last night?" Nabiki asked looking straight into Akane's eyes. Ranma nearly choked. It was ALWAYS Nabiki, wasn't it? He crossed his slim fingers under the table hoping Akane wouldn't screw it up.

"N-nothing. I was sick… I'm better. That's it." Akane said equally as nervous. She continued to stuff her face until she felt prickling stares on her face. Looking up from the last grain of rice in her bowl, she noticed everyone staring awkwardly at her. Nabiki with a small grin on her face and Ranma displaying the expected 'Akane' scowl on her face.

"Oh my. I thought it was Akane who was sick. You should've told us you were sick too, Ranma." Kasumi added.

Akane stopped her chopsticks half way to Ranma's big mouth. Had she also gained Ranma's foot-in-mouth syndrome?

"No you idiot! I was sick. You gave me the pain killers and now I'm better. No need to worry Kasumi, she's just an idiot." Ranma tried to compensate.

"She?" Soun asked with an eyebrow quirked upwards. Genma almost sniggered at the mistake but decided to keep his headache to a minimum.

"I-I meant…" Ranma said.

"And I'm the idiot. You're such a jerk. I wish you would just get lost." Akane said forcefully slamming her chopsticks on the plate.

Composure lost, Ranma slammed his chopsticks down too and retorted, "At least I ain't a shapeless tomboy like you. Your body ain't nothin' to look at anyway!"

Akane reached her fist back and prepared to punch him through the roof then she looked into the brown eyes that initially belonged to her. Slowly, she placed her clenched fist back in her lap and stood.

"I'll find that cure myself." she said before storming out of the room.

"Not if I do first." Ranma said heading out of the room in the opposite direction.

Of course, they were completely oblivious to the confused stares and head scratching going on from the family behind them.

Save, Nabiki's hysterical laughter.

It was rare that Nabiki laughed so hard and it almost felt relieving to her. This situation couldn't go by un-laughed at and due to everyone else's obliviousness she had to be the one to do it.

"Does anyone know what the heck just happened?" Genma added in.

Everyone shook their heads except Nabiki who seemed to lose all of her composure and laugh even harder. Sometimes she wished she hadn't been the only conniving one in the family so that she could share these once in a blue moon laughs with someone. She quickly regretted it. If she wasn't the only conniving, who would she have to scam money from.

She tried to calm down her uncharacteristic laughter and stared at the family surrounding her.

"Don't mind me. Just having a little fun watching their little skit. Well, see you later." she smiled and left an even more baffled family in her wake.

"Is that what it was?" Kasumi asked.

* * *

  
A/N:

And there it is! I actually finished it!

Uh-OH! Nabiki knows? This can't be good!

Initially, this chapter would've been much shorter, but I was having so much fun writing it that I couldn't stop! Just imagine next chapter!

THANK YOU ALL MY REVIEWERS, SUBCRIBERS, AND FAVORITERS! Although, a favorite/subscribe without a review does seem to tick me off! Still, I appreciate it! I've read all of your reviews and I promise to respond from now on! I just have to say that you guys have some good points and suggestions and some of you may have noticed that I used quite a few of them sooooo… keep 'em coming!

Hope you enjoyed and don't forget… if you have enough energy to read… you definitely have enough to review and tell me what you liked!

P.S I'm not expecting as many reviews this time… that was kinda selfish //// BUT I JUST ENJOY THEM SO MUCH!

~Tsukiko


	3. Chapter 3

HEY! I got a chapter in before the end of February! Okay so quick note. Last chapter completely added to the plot. In my last attempt, Nabiki had no idea of the switch. Now, she in to start trouble. So expect a little more.

Chapter 3...  


* * *

  
Akane sighed. What a wonderful breakfast that was. She almost, if not totally, screwed up her chances of hiding the fact that she was currently residing in Ranma's body. Not a subject she wanted her marriage and sex obsessed father or guest panda to know.

"It's all that idiot's fault." Akane grumbled to herself. She continued to make her way toward the Koi pond outside, all the way muttering to herself about how much of an idiot Ranma was.

'What should I do? I don't want this whole switch situation getting out of hand.' she sighed. 'I guess I will just have to talk to Ranma… that jerk.'

"Besides, If we don't switch back soon, he'll just end up making me look stupid." Akane said sullenly to herself.

She flinched suddenly as a small black pebble rebounded off of her head and into the koi pond. Confused, she looked to the koi pond then up. To her surprise, there were a pair of legs dangling from the roof.

"I heard that." came the voice of Akane Tendo.

Akane rubbed her head where the pebble struck and stuck her tongue out a him. "Well it's true."

"Look out below." Ranma said jumping from the roof. He landed perfectly and yet his knees still buckled. "With all your brute strength I thought your thick legs could take a jump like that." Ranma whispered.

"Excuse me?" Akane huffed. Ranma ignored her and gathered himself together.

"Well, since we're down here," Ranma sighed. "Have you found anything that might help us out?"

"No. It's not like I can read Chinese." Akane said grabbing the empty packet and shoving it towards his face. "And apparently neither can you!"

"Hey! I was just trying to help you! You're the one who went and got sick! If you weren't sick maybe none of this would've happened." Ranma retorted. He snatched the packet from her and scanned it thoroughly. No new Chinese words appealed to him but, one thing did stand out.

The two girls who looked nothing alike.

'If that's not a clue, I don't know what is.' Ranma gave himself a mental head slap. 'I won't let that tomboy know that though!' Ranma stuffed the packet into his pockets and cursed himself again.

"Well, we can't go around letting people know that we switched. How are we supposed to find out what that thing says without asking anyone?" He asked.

"We could go get a Japanese to Chinese book from the library and try to figure it out. Though, the library isn't open on the weekends." Akane said, almost choking on her words.

"T-then that means…" Ranma stuttered.

"We're s-stuck like t-this for a whole w-weekend…" Akane finished.

Both teens looked at each other and blushed hard then, simultaneously looked toward the sky.

'Why ME?!'

Akane tried regaining her composure but found it hard to keep the shakiness from her masculine voice.

"Until then, we can't let anyone suspect anything." She stated. Ranma nodded and looked down.

"We should, you know, um… practice being each other." he said, equally as nervous.

Akane was almost completely out of shock when it occurred to her. "Yes, but when? Where? Anytime we spend together, it's either interrupted by your other 'cute' fiancés or our dads who insist it's something that it's not." she spat with a hint of jealousy coloring her tone.

"I was thinking maybe in your… my room. Before everyone wakes up. Like, maybe at 2:00 a.m." Ranma said as if he had already thought it through. "And is that jealousy I hear?"

"Who's jealous?!" Akane snarled, drawing back her fist. And with a flash, Akane's body was airborne.  


* * *

  
Meanwhile…

Nabiki smirked as she viewed the exchange between her two juniors from her bedroom window. It helped that that particular part of the house was bugged.

For a second, her jaw dropped to see Ranma outright punch Akane with so much force. Ranma didn't hit girls. She leaned in to get a better view and it refreshed itself in her mind. Ranma wasn't Ranma anymore. He was the ever impulsive Akane Tendo. Also, Akane wasn't Akane anymore, she was the foot-always-seems-to-be-jammed-in-mouth Ranma Saotome.

She placed her binoculars and headset inside of her desk drawer and pulled out a book labeled 'Japanese to Chinese Modern and Ancient'.

Nabiki trembled as flashes of potential yen-making ideas popped into her head. The promise she had made to keep from revealing this secret of Akane's was etched into her brain and made her want to tear out her hair.

'So many things I could do!' she screamed internally. She quickly shook it off and sighed. It would all pay off in the end anyway. Her devious grin had found its way back to her face as she looked down to the book she held in her hands.

"I think I'll let them figure this out on their own." she said, placing the book on the highest shelf in her room. "Otherwise, what fun will it be?"

She grabbed her laptop and stacked it on top of the book. They wouldn't be needing that either. She figured that Akane or rather Ranma would come asking for something eventually. No one knew of the secret files hidden within her treasured personal computer and she certainly wouldn't let the world wide web of answers ruin the fun weekend she had planned for Akane and her fiancé.

Suddenly, a large crash was heard. The devious Tendo peered out of the window again to see a newly formed hole through the roof of the dojo.

"Might as well make some type of profit off of this. Besides, I just paid to get that fixed." she hissed, writing a series of numbers down into her small notepad.  


* * *

  
Each time Akane hit him, Ranma had to wonder, 'How'd she get that strong?' Usually, he'd resort to calling her unfeminine names and mocking her but now he knew where her strength came from.

'Damn this switch!' he screamed inside his head. He was stuck as a girl for the entire weekend with the ever temperamental Akane Tendo running around punching people into the air in his body. That had been the reason he was always so persistent in not giving Akane strength building lessons.

'Akane's temper + Extra strength = Ranma's pain.'

She needed no more than to get angry while in his body and she could most likely take out an entire army.

"Not… Good…" he groaned. "Stuck as a girl while Akane reeks havoc."

Not only was he stuck as girl, which, quite frankly he was used to, but he was stuck as Akane Tendo.

"Stupid, shapeless tomboy." he grunted running a hand through his plaster decorated, short blue hair. He'd be okay for the weekend as long as he avoided any chances of being nude.

'Which is, of course, inevitable.' he sighed. 'Look at the Brightside!' his inner perverted voice screamed.

He looked down to his rental body. The body that his body longed to hold against him. The body he constantly mocked for being too masculine…

'What were you thinking when you called her shapeless?!' it screamed.

"Not Again!" Ranma whined clasping his hands to his ears. It was to no avail. Flashes of all the perverted things he could do presented themselves in his mind.

"M-maybe I should work on my kata." Ranma decided after minutes of useless attempts to stop his internal thinking.

He began by starting a series of kicks, ranging from front kicks to roundhouse. As soon as he started he noticed that Akane's legs were shorter than his male form's and longer than his female's. Also, noted from his earlier discovery, no matter how many people she kicked into orbit Akane still didn't have much stableness in her legs. He found himself often making hard contact with the floor when he tried anything that he resembled his own routine. Clearly, Akane was a talented martial artist but, it would take a while for his to improve his fighting skill in her body.

'Her toned, beautiful body.'

"Augh!" Ranma groaned in defeat, sliding to the floor drenched in sweat.  


* * *

  
Elsewhere…

It really hit Akane hard when she stopped at the duck that read 'Akane'. She couldn't go into this room. This was 'Akane's' room. She looked down. She was clearly not Akane and most likely wouldn't be until the end of this weekend. She reached back to scratch her head in contemplation and was stunned to find a luxurious pigtail hanging past he shoulders. 'Why wouldn't there be? You are in his body.'

His body. Ranma's body. She was a guy. A boy. A male. Biting her lower lip she slowly dragged herself toward the empty guest bedroom where she sat on 'Ranma's' futon in defeat.

It would be possible to sit there on his futon in Ranma's female form, but that would rouse suspicions. There was also the problem of Ranma running around making her look like an idiot.

Akane sighed and looked down at her flat chest. She knew that Ranma constantly called her flat-chested but at least she had something up there. Now there was nothing…

'Nothing but built, hard muscle.'

Her face instantly lit up and her hand flew to her forehead. 'Did I really just think that?'

She banned any thoughts from her head and tried to concentrate on the real problem in front of her. She was going to have to act like Ranma for the remainder of the weekend.

'That and you've got something between your legs that shouldn't be.'

Akane looked down and her face instantly ignited. To keep from doing what her mind urged her to do she kept reciting to herself "Curiosity killed the cat" but the voice continued to persist in its nagging.

'Satisfaction brought it back!' it teased.

Finally, Akane gave up and lifted the waistband of Ranma's pants and boxers. Soon her head began to pound and she snapped the waistband back down. She let out an audible gulp and began to reprimand herself for doing something so… so… invasive.

'Invasive to who? It is your body now!'

"Shut up!" Akane shouted to he inner voice. It was starting to get on her nerves and worse than that… she might have a permanent blush plastered on her face.

Hopping up from the futon she quickly ran to the bathroom and graced herself with her first transformation. Her height deceased, her chest increased, and in between her legs went hollow.

"T-that was…" she stuttered to the emptiness of the Tendo bathroom.

'Amazing!' her inner voice continued.

Akane groaned and rested her red head on the bathroom sink. This would be a loonnnnngggg weekend.

* * *

  
The day had gone seamless for the rest of the occupants of the Tendo residence. There were times when contact would be made between the youngest Tendo and Saotome but, they would look away ready for their faces to explode from the amount of blood that rushed to them. There were also moments when some random member of the family would ask one of them about what had went on earlier. They would simply, being who they are, mumble something about it being the other's fault and walk away nervously, hoping no one had caught on to their little dilemma.

Kasumi was forced to leave the home that afternoon to gather groceries for that night's dinner being that both Ranma and Akane refused to leave the house, grumbling something like 'until this is fixed'. Kasumi had been determined to get details on what needed to be fixed. They had steadily denied everything and sent her on her way to the store claiming that dinner would be soon. They had felt they had succeed in giving her the slip but unbeknownst to them, Kasumi Tendo could be just as stubborn as her younger sisters and would, eventually, find out what was going on.

The time came that the family was beckoned to the table for dinner. The sun was going to start it's disappearing act soon and Ranma and Akane had not yet been restored to their own bodies. Wonderful smells wafted through the whole compound that made up the Tendos' home. Soon it reached the spot on the grass next to the koi pond where Ranma's body lay stretched out. As if on cue, Kasumi's melodious call for supper reached Ranma's ears. Akane had always been the last table taking her time to marvel in the smell of home cooking. Unfortunately, Ranma's stomach hadn't allowed that today. Akane maneuvered Ranma's body toward the table without hesitation and sat legs straight out and open like many of the boys in her class sat. I mean how else would you sit if you had something right there in between your legs?

Everyone else had slowly but surely made their way to the table, the last to arrive being Akane's body. Ranma began to feel very strange about this switch. Usually, he'd be the first to the table and the last to leave, taking time to finish each grain of rice. Akane barely had an appetite in this body of hers and Ranma couldn't help but wonder if all the times his father had almost starved him contributed to his enormous appetite that remained with his body.

He sat next to Akane and instantly noticed her strange posture. 'Why is she…' his thought trailed. He soon realized why exactly she was positioned so funny and was about to mock her for it when Nabiki caught his eye.

"Feeling a little better, little sister?" she asked with a smirk.

Ranma, having almost a whole day to get used to the name replied instantly with a simple, "Never better." and a small should shrug.

Portions had been served and small talk commenced. It was as if Ranma and Akane were having a contest on who could say the least when someone spoke to them.

"So, anything new happen today Ranma? You didn't get into any trouble did you?" Kasumi asked.

Akane took a few seconds to register that the questioned what aimed at her current body and responded immediately, "Nothing new."

"And you Akane?" Soun asked.

Ranma looked to his temporary father and smiled a bit, the way Akane would. "Nothing here either."

Kasumi and Soun had caught each other's gazes and simply shrugged it off and continued to eat.

"Hope your ready tomorrow, boy. Don't think just because you got one lucky day off that I'll let you start slipping in the arts." Genma snorted with food stuffed into his mouth.

Akane blanched and stopped eating for a second. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to spar with a guy who threw his ten year old fish-sausage wrapped son into a pit full of starving cats.

"I'm done." Ranma said placing his chopsticks on his plate with more than a little force. She was going to humiliate him! Worse than that, his father would never let him live it down, even when he did redeem his body.

"What's your problem?" Nabiki asked, mockery trickling though her tone.

Ranma sighed exasperatedly and made his way up to 'Akane's' room without answering her.

On the other had, Akane was fuming. What was his problem? Was he afraid that'd she'd ruin his image? She'd show him. That jerk.

"I'm done too." Akane said slamming her chopsticks down equally as hard. She stood and made her towards the guest room. Her current sanctuary.

Nabiki simply shook her head. Children.  


* * *

  
Ranma was pretty sure it was nearing 2:00 a.m. Not that he needed Akane's ridiculous alarm clock. It continued to go off at random intervals of the night. He shouldn't have messed with it when he came in here. Now, he lay with her pillow over his head trying to drown out the droning of the stupid clock.

He began to get comfortable in Akane's soft bed. It had been such a long time since he had slept in an actual bed. To make it better her pillow had this alluring smell about it that made him want to close his eyes and drift off to sleep. It was almost like cherries and bubble bath. It smelled wonderful.

Pretty soon Ranma noticed that it had to be past 2:00a.m. Where could Akane-

Then came an almost inaudible knock. Ranma shot to the door and let Akane in. Well, she actually came in stumbling.

"That father of your's is a real drag!" she started. "I tried to get at least five minutes of sleep after dinner but his snoring was nonstop! Then every time I walked towards the door and the floor boards creaked he would try to hit me with a sign that said "Shut up boy." Honestly Ranma, I don't know how you do it!" She said sounding exasperated.

Ranma had to hold back a burst of laughter. "That must be the first tip. Pop almost never wakes up, even in Panda form. So I usually make all the noise I want just to bother him. So that's nothing to worry about."

"Some Martial Artist he is." Akane retorted. "He probably wouldn't stir if I tried to hack off his head with a sword."

"He'll move. I tried." Ranma said nonchalantly walking back to his bed.

Akane stood there for a minute contemplating what he'd just said then shrugged it off figuring his father probably deserved it.

"Anyway, we should start. I mean, it won't be easy being a perverted, egotistical, jerk." Akane said with the lift of one eyebrow.

"Yeah, and it ain't a walk in the park trying to be a macho, violent, shapeless, tomboy either." Ranma retorted.

They began angrily showing the other what they usually did.

"Should I ruin every dish I make? I mean, that way no one would suspect anything."

"And maybe I should fail every class. Then, I'd be the perfect Ranma!"

It wasn't long before the two had everything that would get them through the next day. They declared another meeting like this the next day so that they would be ready for the first, and hopefully only day at school as each other until they got to the library. Akane turned to leave and told Ranma not to do anything perverted then closed the door behind her.

Ranma sighed and sat on her bed. This whole thing was starting to send a chill down his spine. Or was that the open window? He could've sworn he closed that window earlier.

Suddenly, something small and black heaved itself into his lap and looked up to him with pleading eyes.

"Ry-" Ranma cut himself short. Ryoga thought he was Akane. And he was trying to sneak into her bed. Of course he would wait for 'Ranma' to leave.  
Ranma smirked evilly down to the little piglet.

"Hey, little p-chan!" He held his arms out in an inviting way.

"Bwee!" Ryoga squealed as he threw himself into his arms. Ranma made sure to grab the pig by its neck and far away from… er… 'Akane's' chest.

"What are you doing here? Don't you know it's almost three in the morning? Looking for a warm body to sleep with?" Ranma spat in his best imitation of a sweet voice. P-chan's eyes widened as the pressure around his neck tightened.

"I bet you Ranma wouldn't like you sneaking in here."

P-chan's eyes were now the size of saucers. 'Akane' never cared what Ranma thought! What was going on?'

"But no worries, little buddy. You'll sleep at the bottom of the bed today." Ranma took the pig and threw him at the bottom of the bed despite his squealing protests. He took Akane's foot and slammed it into the back of the pig.

'I'll deal with this in the morning.' Ranma thought. 'As for now, this little piggy ain't goin' nowhere.' he tightened his pressure on the back of the pig. Who the heck did Ryoga think he was? Trying to sneak into Akane's bed. He had one hell of a surprise for him in the morning.

* * *

  
And there we are! Finally someone's in trouble! And this is basically a filler chapter. I know you guys want a lot of action but bare with me. I just can't jump straight into things. I have to let them get things through their thick heads first! But I'm promising lot's of action next chapter! The next chapter would be the last chapter I left off before I started revising.

So be ready! It'll be a quick update! And if you value this story, then you'll review. Plus, I'll give you virtually cookies if you do!


	4. Chapter 4

**_Thanks for waiting patiently for me to update people! Also thank you for the wonderful reviews! They really motivate me to continue writing. Review please._**

**_Ranma and other characters from Ranma ½ are not mine and doubt will ever be. The belong to Rumiko Takahashi._**

* * *

She was having the most wonderful, exhilarating dream. Without wings unfurling or a plane taking off, she was flying. The wind that hit her face was so surreal yet calming. She decided that she should probably go on like this for hours. Unfortunately, the dream had other plans. It quickly reversed itself into a nightmare beginning her crash landing. No matter how much she desperately pleaded for her rights to control her own dreams, she could not regain altitude. Then, like a blanket of doom, something had engulfed her in a wave of suddenness. Finally deciding that the nightmare should end, her eyes snapped open.

* * *

A strange feeling welled up in his chest. Or near it, anyway. It was somewhat warm and comforting and completely unfamiliar. Whatever it was made Akane's western styled bed even better than it was.

It was when he rolled over on his stomach to indulge himself in the warm bed that the warm feeling became a squirming and shrieking annoyance. Ranma hastily rolled to his side and looked down to find the source of warmness and annoyance. To his disgust, he found the half-squished form of a black pig. Ryoga, that nasty, dirty, pig! He had forgotten that he had body slammed him, with only his leg, onto the bed last night with intentions of torturing him this morning.

_'Well,'_ Ranma thought with a wicked smile on his face. _'Time to get down to business.' _

* * *

She was surrounded by a dark liquid blanket. Water.

Akane pathetically and desperately tried to break to the surface of the shallow koi pond. With the right leverage of her new body weight and a lot of luck, she managed to stand up. Nope. All hopes of obtaining natural swimming instincts from Ranma had withered. She stood for a minute gasping for air and observing her surroundings. The sun beamed down on her proving a bright and sunny day was among them. It also meant that she had been outside. Then, with sudden realization, she looked down to stare at Ranma's drenched female from.

Confused, Akane dragged herself from the pond with her soaking clothes sloshing about her bra-less from. Searching for answers, Akane soon had her eyes locked on a blur, clad in a white gi, running towards her. Before she could react, she was rammed into a nearby tree that did next to nothing to soften the impact. Groaning in pain, she reluctantly peeled herself from the tree and instinctively dropped into a fighting stance.

"Getting soft on me, boy?" Genma Saotome taunted from a twenty foot distance. Akane could not care any less about his taunting and teasing. She was simply pissed. If this was how Ranma woke almost everyday, being manhandled out of a deep slumber by a toss out of a window into a shallow pit of potential death, she could not see how he could not have killed Genma by now. Maybe he simply got used to it or maybe he accepted it as vigorous training, whatever it was… it was extremely admirable.

But as for her, she was seeing red and ready to kill the tactless lump of clay standing before her. Akane launched herself skillfully towards Genma with her hands and fingers outstretched, ready to choke him. Her fingers just barely grazed his skin before he leaped above her head and snapped a kick towards her face. Eyes widening in horror, Akane tried to twist out of the way but failed, although it did lessen the pain compared to if he had hit her full force.

Genma began aiming a series of punches at her. Still a martial artist herself and with the help of Ranma's brilliant quickness in his female from, Akane managed to dodge some of the more threatening punches that were thrown. Then, without warning, Genma had landed a roundhouse kick to her jaw that sent her sailing through the air and into the porch of her house.

* * *

"Wakey Wakey, little P-chan!" Ranma chimed into the pig's ear. "We have a special day planned."

Slowly but surely, P-chan opened his horror filled eyes but as he woke, the paleness of his body did not return. Ranma didn't blame him for his wariness. He'd be scared too if the 'love of his life' had tried to suffocate him then woke up telling him about a special day. Actually, he'd be terrified.

"P-chan? You look a little pale. Something wrong?" Ranma asked bringing the pig closer to his face. Hesitantly, P-chan shook his head and offered a small **_'bwee'_** in reply.

"Maybe we should get you warmed up little buddy." Slowly an evil grin crept to Akane's Ranma possessed mouth despite him trying to hold it back. "How's a steaming hot bath sound?"

And all hell broke loose.

P-chan squirmed, nipped and twisted until he broke free. Then, after launching himself at the door and the window which were both shut, he lurched under the bed. Ranma avidly chased after him but eventually had to admit that either Ryoga was really fast as P-chan or that Akane's body was really slow. He admitted that it was a little of both before letting himself drop to his knees to peer under the bed. He could only see the whites of P-chan's eyes as he quivered in the smallest, darkest corner under the bed.

"P-chan what's wrong? Scared of a hot bath are you? I just don't understand it, it's not like you have a Jusenkyo curse or something. Who would you turn into? Ryoga?" Ranma laughed a little as P-chan's quivering turned into extreme quaking. Slowly he reached in for him with both hands hoping to block both entrances. It would have worked if it weren't for P-chan's sharp little teeth sinking just slightly into his palm. Not anything like it did when he was 'Ranma', but still enough to make him flinch.

Ranma bit back his insults and swears and retracted his hand. Here's where his 'acting as a girl in his cursed form to get things from people' skill came in handy. He let his eyes water a bit as they enlarged and let his lip quiver just the slightest.

"P-P-chan? Why did you bite mommy? I-I was only trying to help. You should have just nudged me. I would have understood that that meant 'cold bath'." He watched as P-chan hesitantly walked from under the bed with a look of shock and horror. Still P-chan stood far enough that if Ranma were to lurch for him, he would bolt back under the bed. So with a great amount of effort, he held his hands open and allowed a small tear to stream down 'Akane's' face.

"Please, P-chan?" And it did the trick.

"Bweeeeee!" was his response with tear filled eyes as he leapt into what he assumed to be Akane's forgiving arms.

However, Ranma waited not a second to drop his façade and slam the pig face down into the floor, knocking him unconscious. He held him by the bandana and looked to him in disgust.

"Little bastard."

And then there was the sickening crunch coming from outside of the house.

* * *

Akane was dazed. If some miracle didn't happen soon, she'd be toast. She thought that if she played possum she could possibly escape being beaten with in an inch of her life. But then the questions would arise suspiciously. Hadn't it been Ranma who had beaten his father every almost morning with energy to spare? But the truth of the matter was… she wasn't Ranma. She sighed and attempted Ranma's remedy for conundrums by looking upwards for answers.

Then, as if her prayers were answered, she was staring up into familiar brown eyes that held a great deal of sympathy in them. It was her mirror image, Ranma. He looked down on her and handed her the steaming kettle in his hands. And P-chan in the other? What could Ranma possibly be doing that involved an unconscious P-chan! Wait. Now wasn't the time to worry about that!

"Turn back into a boy. If you have my strength… and my balance, I'm pretty sure you can land a few good hits. If you can get him into the koi pond he'll most likely stop… to eat." He said with a voice of concern. Whether the concern was for her well being or just to protect her from damaging his body too much, she gratefully accepted the tips and the kettle.

Akane poured the hot water over her head and felt an instant change overcome her senses. _'I'll have to get used to that.'_ she impassively thought. She admittedly felt stronger than she previously had. The muscles in her new arms had the urge to flex and the knuckles on her fist were itching to meet Genma's face. This might just be fun.

Akane silently nodded her head in appreciation and thanks towards Ranma. Then, she was running towards the place where the beast silently awaited her approach. Apparently he'd been distracted, hinted by the confusion on his face, to see her coming toward him with her fist drawn back. Afraid to miss this wonderful opportunity, Akane added to Ranma's strength with her anger and frustration and the punch connected with a crunch. She had no idea what she had hit but she was glad she hit it. Genma slid backwards and stopped just short of the koi pond.

"Lucky hit." Genma said quickly hopping up onto his feet. Akane simply grumbled at this because he had been right. Her success was merely chance. If he had been paying more attention he most likely would have dodged the obvious attack.

He seemed focused now. It became apparent to her when his gaze locked and his stance deepened. With a new determination, he charged towards her. Akane dodged his imprecise kicks and skillfully swept his legs from beneath him. He heaved himself upwards after a two second recovery and side kicked her in the chest with excessive power.

Akane felt the air being knocked out of her lungs with a 'whoosh' and to her dismay, discovered that she had only a few seconds to recover before he landed another kick. She thought quickly are lunged forward between his legs and brought her foot up to connect with his back. She heard an 'umph' and then a familiar splashing noise.

She had managed to get him into the koi pond.

With a gasp for air and a proud sigh, a sweat drenched 'Ranma' stalked cautiously towards her house leaving behind a very wet and pissed off Panda. She headed towards the porch so she could pass out quietly but was caught off guard by a sudden **_'wham!'_**

Slowly, she turned to see the source of the nerve wrecking sound. 'Akane' was turning away from a scene that displayed a Panda sitting in a koi pond… with a super sized mallet implanted into the side of its head. Dusting his hands, Ranma glanced over towards her with a grin. It was obvious that he was beaming at the chance to hit his abusive father without him being able to hit him back. But something else occupied that grin. Could that be a grin of… Respect? Admiration?

"Breakfast is getting cold." Ranma spat venomously toward his _'father'. _

Akane couldn't help but smile back and continue into the house with a new sense of accomplishment, completely forgetting about the unconscious P-chan still dangling from his bandana on Ranma's hand.

* * *

Ranma had decided that after being knocked unconscious, Ryoga deserved some alone time so he gave him to the mail man who was paid graciously to mail him to Hokkaido. Safely, of course.

Breakfast that morning was quite uneventful. Although, it did prove a bit uncomfortable for Ranma. The glares that both he and Akane received from Genma were, to say the least, unnerving. The fact that he was glaring at Ranma himself for something that 'Akane' had done and vice versa, was making the event a lot more stomach churning.

Ranma glanced over to the place next to him where Akane deservedly enjoyed breakfast without a care. This would prove normal for 'Ranma' but for Akane to be acting as such but still eating at a breakneck pace was proof that her first workout with Pop was a little more than a workout for her. Still, he did have to admit she had held out pretty well and gave her some credit for her quick thinking.

"Hold still!" Genma grunted. His chopsticks sparred Akane's for the last piece of salmon on the serving plate.

"No way! I'm still hungry!" Akane said as a determined look settled on her face.

'She does play it well…' Ranma stated while holding back a smile. Of course, her efforts were in vain as Genma greedily swallowed the salmon whole. Ranma would have to teach her a few techniques on how to stump the greedy fool.

When Akane forcefully sat back in her place with an honest look of 'hungry' on her face, Ranma couldn't help but smile a bit. His stomach was pretty hard to satisfy.

"Akane, do mind helping me in the kitchen this morning?" Kasumi asked as she rose from her place to collect the plates around the table.

Ranma felt a nudge in his side from Akane. He was at a loss for what she could want until he saw Kasumi's smiling face look at him in question.

"Akane?"

Ranma finally understood and responded. "Oh.. Ah, sure." he replied as he took the dishes from the eldest sister's hands. When they entered the kitchen, Ranma set to work cleaning the dishes.

"Akane, I noticed some things going on between you and Ranma lately." Kasumi said, diving straight to the point. It was all Ranma could do to not drop the plate he held.

"K- Kasumi, I.." Ranma began.

"It's really… strange, if you don't mind me saying so. You two seem to be quieter than usual. That and you also seems to be slowly recovering from the incident in Jusendo. Talking and hanging out with each other more. It's about time, I'd say."

Ranma wasn't expecting the Nabiki-like comment to come from Kasumi. Out of everything he knew of Kasumi, which wasn't much, one thing he seemed to notice was that she always seemed a bit oblivious. Perhaps she and Akane had shared sister like conversations like this before. 'Mental head slap… DUH! They are sisters!' he silently mused.

"We, we kinda uh…" He said dumbly.

"You needn't protest, Akane. Really, It's just an opinion." Kasumi said.

"B-but I…" Ranma tried to hold his own for Akane's sake. He had no idea what she would do or say in a situation like this.

Kasumi heartily laughed. "Really Akane, I thought we were passed this stage." Kasumi said as she took the plate from Ranma. "I'll finish the dishes on my own, sister. Although, I will need you to accompany me this afternoon to do some shopping if that is okay with you."

Ranma stopped trying to use words and simply nodded then, rushed from the kitchen with his heart beating rapidly against his ribcage. Who knew a conversation with Kasumi could be so…. nerve-racking?

_'This ain't workin' out like I thought.'_ He thought as he absentmindedly made his way toward the dojo. Practicing his forms would probably clear his mind from the potential conversational danger that Kasumi emitted.

Once sliding the door a fraction of an inch, he realized that the dojo was already occupied. In the middle of the wooden floor sat his body and his body's father. They keeled facing each other as if about to challenge each other to a duel.

Ranma peered into the door with interest, although, he made sure to conceal himself well before doing so. Whatever conversation his father was about to start with Akane wasn't going be colored with sunshine. He knew he had been right when he saw the gleam that had bounced off of his father's glasses. Nope. He was not happy.

"What is wrong with you, boy?" The four-eyed man began. His voice was calm yet icicles dripped from the statement.

"What are you talking about?" 'Ranma had asked just as coolly. Watching closely, Ranma noticed she was twitching.

"Why are you letting that girl interfere? You aren't focusing on the arts." Genma said.

"Wh- What? I didn't let anyone interfere with anything. You're nuts if you think I let that 'tomboy', get to me. I'm just fine." Annoyance dripped from her voice. Ranma saw the true Akane was coming through and if Pop was noticing, this was going to go from bad to worse.

"I saw her help you this morning. Any other time you would have defeated me in cursed form or not. Fiancé or not, she is not your current priority. Get your mind out of the gutter, boy."

From his hiding spot Ranma winced. If he knew Akane at all, he knew 'chauvinistic men' were at the top of her hit list… besides himself. He saw her… or rather 'his' face redden and it wasn't in embarrassment. Genma's word were probably eating at her like a savage. If only the old man had knew who he was really talking to.

"What the hell do you mean my '_current priority'_? The way you and Mr. Tendo are trying to force us together I would beg to differ! What makes you the one to decide what my priorities are? We are completely separate beings and I'll decide what the hell I wanna do. If I wanna accept help from Ranma, I will!" Akane was seething at this point and Genma had been too stunned to immediately respond.

Ranma's heart had skipped a few beats when his name had been called. As Ranma…. she just said that she would accept ' Ranma's' help. Her outburst had just awkwardly given away their secret. Akane and her outbursts! Ranma was praying that all the times he had called his father an idiot would prove him right and present themselves in this case.

"You've got one time to slip up, boy." was all a stunned Genma could say before exiting the dojo. Ranma concealed himself within the shadows of the dojo and quietly waited for him to pass. He stood and entered the dojo to find Akane still kneeling, seemingly dazed.

"Your dad's a complete idiot." she said. Why did she seemed surprised?

"No kidding. I saw the whole thing. That was pretty intense." He said feeling squirmy.

"Does he always talk about me to you like that?" she asked staring up at him. He looked away from her nervously and shrugged his shoulders.

"No, not usually. But when he does he just tells me not to get soft. I guess it's because he's never seen 'Akane' help 'Ranma' like that. Or he was so used to getting the stuffing beat out of him by 'Ranma'." Ranma said trying to comfort her.

She heavily sighed and stood up, towering about a head's length over 'Akane'. "We have to be more careful. At this rate were bound to get figured out by someone."

"Especially since 'Ranma' doesn't usually speak in third person." Ranma added.

Akane blushed brightly. "Um… yea… sorry about that. He just got me so mad I forgot who I was… or who I was supposed to be."

"Been there." Ranma said empathetically. He looked at her and was happy to receive a small grin from her. He was glad to have cheered her up.

"I was just about to try some new forms… with this new body I got here. You could use some pointers." he said. Akane's eyes seem to light up at this.

"Ah.. Sure!" she said enthusiastically. She stood and dropped into a stance that screamed, _'I'm ready.'_

"Okay, so 'Ranma' doesn't usually let people know when he's about to beat them to death." Ranma said with a grin. "Try loosening your stance to look casual."

Akane adjusted herself according to what Ranma had said. "This doesn't feel exactly right. I mean when I'm about to-"

"Here, this should help." Ranma said angling her legs to a comfortable position. When he had bent down she saw the dark hair that she used to own swing softly about his head. His fingers touched her legs with strange familiarity. 'Of course, this is his body I'm in.' she thought. She still had to admit if felt strange.

"Th-that helps a lot." she said relaxing into the stance. He smiled and instructed her through some simple strikes.

"Come on, Akane! Imagine Pops is in front of you. You've got to be a bit faster to get him." Ranma coached along side of 'himself'. The taunt seemed to be working because she did seem to get a bit faster. As he watched her train, her strikes flew fast his face and seemed so familiar. It was like he was watching himself train in front of a mirror. The fact seemed to daze him. What was this experience that they were going through? Why were he and Akane in each other's bodies?

"Let's spar!" Akane said catching him off guard.

"I don't think you're-" Ranma began before he was cut off by an outburst of determination.

"I'm ready." Akane said. Without giving him time to argue, she dropped into the casual stance he had taught her.

"If you think so." Ranma said, an amused grin adoring his Akane look-alike face. Ranma couldn't deny Akane this favor by saying "I don't fight girls.". He was the girl in this situation and she wasn't. He copied her stance and readied himself.

Without warning from either side, the two switched teens rushed toward each other instantly clashing. Strikes flew from either side, some being successfully blocked and some successfully getting through. With Ranma at the disadvantage of not being completely familiar with Akane's body and Akane at the disadvantage of not used to being a boy at all, they were currently evenly matched.

After countless hours of correcting and on and off sparring, lunch time rolled around and the two entered the house beaming and glistening in accomplishment.

* * *

Ranma walked down the street with Kasumi leading the way. After his and Akane's training session and lunch, he had quickly bathed and changed. That had been an experience itself for he had found it extremely hard to tear his gaze from Akane's body while bathing and changing despite his promise. He still found himself blushing when he thought about the dress that he donned and how Akane had worn it on herself before. It would have had to have swayed around her hips as it did to him now. He also found the bra he had on touched him in a way that made him think-

"What do you think we should have for dinner, Akane?" Kasumi interrupted his thoughts. He silently thanked her.

"Meat buns." was what he answered. His favorite.

"Okay, what do I need?" She said to herself as they approached the market place. It was crowded at this time of day with mothers and their children. The mothers searching, like Kasumi, for tonight's dinner ingredients. The children on the hunt for tonight's dessert.

Ranma continued to follow Kasumi in and out of the stores and collecting the bags of ingredients that she had paid for. She stopped at a produce stand and surveyed the leeks that they sold. Ranma stood with bags in either hand nonchalantly letting his thoughts drift to his surroundings. It looked as if rain clouds were forming and contemplating whether or not to bother him. Then, they decided to wisp away on their own accord realizing who he was at the same time he did. Proof. His curse did attract water… and trouble. As long as he owned Akane's body, he didn't have to worry about water ruining or changing his mood, moment, or his gender. This could possibly be a blessing.

He continued to bask in his luck when a man had accidentally bumped into him causing groceries to scatter about the ground.

"I apologize miss. Please let me help-" the man began. Ranma continued to pick up the groceries without a glance in the man's direction until he spoke again. "Akane Tendo?"

Ranma looked up from the cabbage head he had placed back into the bag to see Mousse lowering his glasses onto his face. He wasn't expecting to run into someone he knew so soon.

"Er.. Yeah, It's me Akane Tendo, Mousse." Ranma said trying to be nonchalant.

"If you are here then surely Ranma is somewhere near. I shall defeat him and rightfully take Shampoo to be mine." He said while searching for said boy. If only knew who he was talking to. 'A simple hello would be nice.' Ranma said to himself.

"Nope. Just me and Kasumi doing some shopping." he said sounding exasperated.

Mousse handed him Kasumi's bags. "Oh, Hello Kasumi Tendo. And I wish for you tell Ranma the next time I see him, my challenge still stands firm." Before giving Kasumi or Ranma time to respond, he was gone.

"What a nice boy." Kasumi said before continuing down the street. In whose mind? Ranma would have to teach Akane some new evasive moves before she had the chance to run into Mousse. He followed Kasumi back down the street towards the Tendo residence with the heavy bags causing a strain on his hand. He'd be sure to warn 'Ranma' of the oncoming challenge.

* * *

Both Akane and Ranma had sat through another tension filled dinner. Akane had felt a strong need for a bath after Ranma and Kasumi had left for the grocery store and that's what she had done. That's when further study of Ranma's anatomy had been done. She'd learned that as long as she simply washed and didn't think about what she was cleaning exactly… she could go through this ritual without a hitch. Although, it had taken her quite a bit of time in the furo to figure it out.

Now, she and the boy who she had known to take a bath before leaving out, were furiously blushing at each other while receiving mischievous smirks from the Nabiki corner of cash. Other than that… dinner had been normal. Well, as normal as it could be in the Tendo household. Until…

"Ranma, Akane… I would like to have a quick chat with you after dinner." Soun Tendo spoke.

Ranma and Akane exchanged glances at each other and at Soun. What the hell could he want to possibly talk about? Could he have possibly found out? Did he see something that the other's missed that gave them away? It was proving more stressful than either of them could have ever imagined.

With the strength of a bull Ranma tore his gaze away from the older man and continued to eat. It was all he could do to not look suspicious. He was worried as a martial artist could be. This could be another scheme for an instant marriage. Well, so he thought. Soun's face was lacking that goofy, determined, and guilty look of when he'd been scheming with Pop. Whatever this was about… he was serious.

Akane focused on her bowl of rice as her face paled. It wasn't that obvious was it? Maybe he really did just want to talk. Maybe he just wanted to ask them to do something for him. No, if that was the case he would have asked them at the table. Why did he want to talk to them alone? Or could this be another dumb plan to get she and Ranma married? Whatever it was he looked very serious and stern about it.

The room remained motionless and the clinking of chopsticks distilled glances in different directions.

Swallowing their last bit of food, both Ranma and Akane looked at the empty rice cooker. No chance of asking for seconds. Well aware of what came next they both looked to Soun questioningly. He wiped at his mouth with a napkin and motioned his head towards the engawa. The two gender benders followed him.

They all took their seats at the end of the porch. For the longest time Soun simply stared into the setting sun and puffed on his pipe.

After another minute of churning stomachs and puffs of smoke floating off into the distance, Soun snapped to attention.

"You two are almost adults, am I correct?" He said still staring off.

"Yeah, I guess…" Ranma spoke from Akane's mouth

"Yes, you c-could say that." Akane said with nervous tone that did not fit Ranma's stature.

With a nostalgic chuckle Soun took another drag and said "It all seems so long ago since Ranma first came to our door. To the point then, I know you're beginning to get the urges of an adult and-"

"I knew it! This is just another plan to get us married!" Akane blurted out. Soun slowly shook his head and looked at 'Ranma'.

"No lad. I told you once that when your affairs are sorted then we can get back to the subject of marriage. Right now I'm talking about the way you two have been in to many awkward 'situations' to continue to called it just a coincidence."

Ranma sucked in a breath, knowing what 'situations' he was referring to. He peeked over to his form and saw Akane slowly realizing what he was talking about. Each word she reviewed turned her a darker shade of red.

"That's why I want to suggest to you two to take precautions. Akane, I want you to start taking birth control." It rolled of his tongue with such little effort it was if he didn't know who he was talking to.

"WHAT?" They both shouted. Trying to stutter out complaints and protest they both ended up tongue tied. After a moment there was a confusion of "But" "I'd never!" and "Why would I ever touch him/her."

"Now, Now," Soun said standing up from his place and putting one hand on each of their shoulders. "I understand this is embarrassing to hear from me. I also understand you probably wouldn't want children until you've finished your education and preferably get married. I realized that if this is the only way for our school to be united I can't stop a young man from his urges. Akane, I have already talked to Kasumi about this situation. She's going to take you to the clinic next weekend." With that being said he gave one last glare of warning saying _'Don't you dare. This is just precaution.'_ towards Ranma and sauntered off like it was just an average conversation.

Both Akane and Ranma were stock-still and both jaws were dropped. Two pair of eyes locked and their faces flushed. Ranma could feel his whole face heat up as he cleared his throat.

"Well, at least he didn't find out." He said with nervous laughter. Akane stared back at Ranma in disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me right? That was worse! He thinks were involved like… that…! What happens when he makes you go to the clinic with Kasumi?"

"What do you mean me? He said 'Akane' has to go to the clinic with Kasumi! Hopefully this switch body thing will be cured by _tomorrow_!" He hissed.

"Oh really? And what if it doesn't?" She asked raising one eyebrow. Ranma began to break out in a cold sweat. A women's clinic? Pills so that 'he' wouldn't get pregnant? This was beginning to be way too much for him to handle.

"I-I don't know. That thing with your dad was bad enough! Imagine what Kasumi would talk about!" Ranma felt goose bumps on his skin. "I'm a guy dammit! I ain't supposed to take birth control!"

"You idiot! You're not a while you're in my body! Besides, it's not like you have to take the pills. We all know you'd never do something like that with a 'chick like me' right!" Akane sounded more angry than hurt at the moment.

The two looked at each other with heat in their eyes. Ranma sighed and his expression quickly changed from anger to annoyance and grief.

"Listen Akane, we really ain't got time to argue at a time like this. We really have to find out how to get back into our own bodies. Until then…" he looked to darkening sky for words.

"2:00am." Akane murmured.

"Huh?" Ranma questioned not understanding.

"I'll be in…. your room at 2:00am. Honestly, neither of us know what exactly happened and neither of us know how to fix it so, until we do, which will hopefully be tomorrow, then we have to be on eggshells around everyone else. That's not going to happen with you being typical jerky 'Ranma' and me being sophisticated debating 'Akane'. So we meet at 2:00am. Got it?" Akane said before storming back into the house.

Ranma snorted._ ' 'Sophisticated' she says.'_

* * *

Akane tiptoed towards the door of the guest room. Despite what Ranma had said about his father, she still feared waking the sign wielding Panda. It was already 2:00 a.m and she was about to meet Ranma in 'her' room for another 'How to be me' lesson.

Finally making it outside of the room, she slipped stealthily down the hallway to the door with the wooden duck that read 'Akane'. She knocked so softly that only a highly skilled martial artist on the other side of the door would be able to hear it.

Ranma almost immediately opened the door and let her inside.

"We've got to have another training lesson." he said with urgency.

"Not that I mind, but why is that so important?" Akane asked confused.

"Mousse issued 'Ranma' a challenge while me and Kasumi were out today. Mister master of hidden weapons requires some smooth evasive skill to be beaten." he said raising an eyebrow.

Akane brought a large hand to her forehead and lightly swore. "Does it ever end?" she inquired.

"It never ends for 'Ranma'. I thought you knew that." he answered with a wide grin.

"Ugh, of course. Anyway, now what? We've got school tomorrow you know."

Ranma grunted. "I guess we could practice a bit more. And I have to warn you… I'm not master of paying attention in class."

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Obvious. You sleep through almost every class! You'd better learn to pay attention while you're in my body. If my grades drop at all there will be consequences." Akane huffed.

Ranma winced. "You can't hit girls as long as you're me Akane. That's just not me." He looked at his counterpart's sudden face of realization.

"O-Oh… Right. I'll get you once we change back though." Akane said with a sure and serious grin.

Ranma glared jokingly at her but held sincere fear inside of him.

They continued to copy each other's speaking terms and movements until they almost perfectly perpetrated each other. This wouldn't stop them from the occasional slip of the tongue once in a while.

"I already said no, Shampoo. I ain't goin' on a date with you." Akane said sounding annoyed. This line was the best line she had gotten to practice so far. She wouldn't let Ranma know that though.

Ranma grinned, amused at his impersonation. He cleared his throat and mocked Akane. "I'd rather drown than go to the beach with you, Kuno."

Akane burst out in laughter. It was exactly how she would say it.

"Well, I think that about covers it." Ranma said proudly. He glanced over to the clock. It was already passed 3:00 a.m. "I'd better get to sleep though. If I gotta be miss smarty pants I gotta stay awake." He said with a genuine yawn.

"Well, being Ranma, I can catch up on my sleep in class." Akane said with a small giggle fit for a girl.

Ranma grumbled and reclined onto Akane's bed. "Yeah, Sure. G'Night, 'Kane."

"Goodnight, Ranma." Akane said before softly clicking the door closed.

'What a long day. Question is, what the heck is gonna happen tomorrow?'

* * *

**_I'm sooooooooooo sorry! I told you all last time that it would be a quick update… that was before my internet got cut off. I have to put all of this on a flash drive then take it to a library to update… so I hope you guys understand. I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TIME TO CONSULT MY PART-TIME BETA! I hope it isn't bad because I basically took that missing points from my first attempt at this story and threw it in there. So, this is the last chapter of revision and the next chapter will be full of new surprises for readers of my unrevised version and new readers. I don't know when it'll be up but I'll try my best._**

**_ ANY WAYS…"_**

**_AHHH WHAT A NICE, LOOONNNGG CHAPTER! I really like getting reviews. They help bring on chapters like this. So please if you're one of those "Alert Story/ Favorite Story' people… take a moment to tell me what you think please . I hope this met my reader's expectations and tell me what you liked about this chapter! Next Chapter… School. Conflict time! _**  
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**_And if you haven't yet, you can visit my revised version of 'Not All the Same.' I have lots of future story ideas and I'm pretty sure they'll be up soon too!_**

**_R&R_**


	5. Chapter 5

**AND FINALLY~... It's DONE!**

**I won't drag on... just read.**

* * *

It was the fifth time that the alarm clock had gone off in the last ten minutes and, slamming his hand on it for what seemed like the thousandth time, Ranma was regretting that he hadn't sent the alarm clock to Hokkaido with Ryoga. He had no idea why Akane wanted to be up this early in the morning until it dawned on him that this would allow her the time to be ready for school AND dump a freezing cold bucket on him if he wasn't. That would be just like the tomboy. He began to wonder what she did with her time when he was up and ready for school when the alarm clock began furiously beeping… AGAIN!

Ranma picked up the annoying contraption and pitched it towards the wall. The face of it broke and some of he buttons flew off… but it continued to beep. This time it was even louder than before. He laughed a little to himself at how he and numerous other people had barged into Akane's room during numerous fights and had broken numerous things, her alarm clocks were some of the main victims every time. It seems Akane had enough sense to buy an industrial strength one this time. Still, the beeping was enough to drive him insane so he threw it out of the bedroom window with hopes that it would shatter. He didn't know if it did but he was happy enough to be rid of the beeping and decided to head to Akane's closet.

He never realized how much he hated the Furinkan's girls' uniform until he stared at it. Come to think of it, he hated the boys' uniform, too. He considered himself lucky that he didn't have to wear it due to the whole 'changing into a girl in the middle of the day' situation. It was hard to explain to the administration but, eventually they approved. Now, staring at the blue and white uniform in his hands he felt much more sympathy for the girls than he did the boys.

But for today, and hopefully ONLY for today, he had to wear it. At least it wasn't one of those short miniskirts they wore at all of the other high schools. Now THAT would be a serious problem.

He tried to force the blush from his face as he opened Akane's underwear drawer but it only increased as he searched though it. He felt more perverted than Happosai and he had always thought it was impossible to get more perverted than that old-fart. He tried to make his search quick and pick out plain underwear since, of course, she had no boxers. But each time he picked something up it was frillier than the last and he was in no way going to put those on. He finally found a pair with only a small bow on he front and decided he wasn't going to get any less girly than that.

Ranma thought of going braless as he had the previous days when he had a choice to wear a baggy shirt instead but instantly decided against it considering his clothing for the day and the perverts he loosely considered friends occupying the same space as Akane's body.

His selection of bras were two times worse than that of the underwear but he managed to find a sports bra.

His blush never left his face as he muttered to himself, "For a tomboy, Akane sure does have a lot girly things." And with that he headed to the bathroom where he anticipated another nosebleed.

* * *

Akane wasn't quite sure whether it was Ranma's inner alarm clock that woke her, her fear of being thrown into the koi pond again, or the distinct sound of something breaking in the distance. Whatever it was that woke her, she was fully awoke and glad to be. She REALLY didn't want to be here when Mr. Saotome decided that the best way to train someone was to throw them out of a window.

Besides, she usually woke at this time anyway. Since her first encounter with 'male' Ranma in the bathroom, she decided it would be best if she took her showers before everyone woke up. And if the feeling was right, it gave her enough time to 'attempt' to make a bento box for Ranma. Not that she cared what he though of her cooking. The Jerk.

And if he wasn't awoke by the time she finished her morning routine, she usually found the time to fill her bucket to the brim with freezing cold water and dump it on him.

Akane rolled off the futon and tiptoed to Ranma's small dresser that he shared with his father afraid to wake the latter. She opened it expecting to pull out one of Ranma's many identical boxers. Instead - and she gagged at the sight - she pulled out an over sized pair of briefs. Her nose scrunched instantly and she didn't hesitate to throw the briefs back into the drawer and slam it shut. It's not that she didn't think Mr. Saotome was clean, especially with Mrs. Saotome popping in every once in awhile, but she didn't believe that this man who spent more than ten years on the road believed in the 'change your underwear everyday' rule. And the involuntary mental images of him wearing them were more than stomach turning.

Akane wiped her hands on the pants she wore and looked around the room to see if anyone had just seen what she had. After confirming she was the only one awoke she looked down to the bag that lie next to the dresser and instantly recognized it as Ranma's bag.

The bag was filled with his clothes but no uniform. She actually felt as if she had gotten the lucky end of the stick on this matter. She didn't have to wear a uniform today thanks to Ranma's curse. It wasn't that she hated uniformity…

She just hated her school's uniform.

She grabbed Ranma's everyday attire that consisted of a red Chinese shirt and a drawstring black pants which she had found to be very comfortable. She rummaged though the bag for a few more minutes only to come up with everything but boxers.

"Does that mean…" Akane started to herself. Was it possible that Ranma only wore his boxers for sleep wear and the rest of the time he went… commando? 'Nah, it can't be… I'm just being ridiculous… and perverted.' she thought. Still, the hot blush spread across her face as the thought continued to flash through her mind. 'I really hope there are some in the laundry.' She thought as she headed to the bathroom.

* * *

Ranma had just finished pouring a bucket of water over his gleaming black hair when he heard the door to the bathroom swing open. His mind instantly told him to run for cover but, as the body of the door-swinger walked through, he froze.

Did it really make sense to cover yourself from your own eyes?

It was in this kind of situation that Akane usually proved to be unpredictable with her predictability. So instead of acting first, he sat not knowing what to do.

After warped minutes ticked away as if they were hours, Akane in Ranma's body finally blushed, muttered a small 'sorry', and left the bathroom. After hearing the door click, Ranma released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Silently he thanked every unknown force that she hadn't used one of her other predictable defaults in this situation. She could have called him a pervert and hit him. She could have hit him for being careless. She could have done a lot of things that would've resulted in him hurt.

'Oh the wonders of being in Akane's body.' Ranma thought only to immediately realize the innuendos of that thought. He looked down to the chest area which he was washing and felt another nosebleed on the verge of spilling over.

'Damn.'

* * *

Akane knew what she could've done in that situation. What she WOULD'VE done in that situation. But it really didn't seem to even register as a thought while she stared at her own body just a few minutes back. Truthfully, Ranma wasn't doing anything wrong. Well, technically, their whole current situation was wrong but there were some things that couldn't be avoided.

With a sigh, she patiently waited for Ranma to exit and then did what she had to do in the bathroom with, no doubt, the biggest blush on her face. She couldn't help but think of how awkward it would be for them once they got back to being in their own bodies having seen and touched…

Akane looked down and then held her head in her hands. 'I can't be turning into a pervert like Ranma!'

* * *

In order to avoid more awkwardness than necessary, the two youngest ate as fast as they could at breakfast. Luckily, they were able to avoid both Nabiki and Mr. Saotome. It didn't go without it's complication though due to Ranma's newly developed small appetite and Akane's newly developed large appetite. It was still a wonder to the both of them how Akane managed to finish the entire plate.

Now, on the way to school with side by side on the sidewalk, they both silently yet mutually prayed for a fast solution, that no one would notice, and that no one who would cause trouble *ahemPURPLEHAIRahem* would see them.

"People are going to notice," Ranma stated. "Everyone knows I walk on the gates. If they see you down here they'll know something's up."

"Why? Can't you just walk next to your 'fiancé' for once without people suspecting something?" Akane asked sarcastically.

"Right," Ranma shot back. "Why would I wanna walk next to an un-cute tomboy like you?" Akane felt the typical 'Akane' retort bubbling inside of her but, just as she was about to respond, a couple they knew walked by so she simply sighed.

"Whatever. Let's just focus on getting to school and avoiding your 'cute' purple haired fiancé." She made sure to look and see if the couple just ahead of them found anything suspicious and when hey hadn't reacted she released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"Stop being so paranoid." Just as Ranma had spoken, he snapped his head back. Akane laughed and continued walking.

"Me paranoid? What about you?" She scoffed. Ranma reached back and grabbed he wrist.

"Don't you hear that?" He asked.

"Hear what?"

"Run."

"What?"

"RUN!" Ranma screamed. He turned and shot forward with his body in tow. Akane suddenly felt this sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach as a shadow loomed over her. She then heard exactly the sound Ranma had. The whizzing of wheels going, no doubt, fifty miles per hour. It was then that she realized that Ranma pulled her away to late; it was not even five seconds later that she felt hot rubber meet her back and heard a sickening crunch as she crumbled to the ground.

The Purple Mass with breasts then proceeded to replace the pain of the of the bike with the pain of a rib-crushing embrace.

"Nihao Airen! We go on date, yes?"

Damn.

Was this how it felt to be hugged by an Amazon? Was this what Ranma experience almost EVERY morning? Akane glanced passed the purple haired mass to see her body snickering at the whole ordeal.

Did he find it funny? Did he not realize that at this rate they'd be late for school?

Akane sighed. She'd figure she'd put all her 'mocking Ranma' efforts into play.

"No, Shampoo. I don't want to date. Now let go! I'm gonna be late!"

"Skipping school to be with wife should be allowed!" she protested. Akane rolled her eyes and gave another vain effort to push her off. Meanwhile, Ranma stood snickering on the sidelines, rocking back and forth on his heels. She mouthed the word 'help!' at him but he simply shrugged his 'Akane' shoulders.

"You already late. You can learn all you need from Shampoo!" Shampoo rambled.

"Actually, we have three minutes to be there." Ranma added.

"No one asked kitchen-wrecker!" Shampoo shot back. Ranma simply shrugged and turned his grin towards Akane.

"If you're done playing with Shampoo here, RAAAANNNNMAAAAAAA, we have to be to school."

Shampoo shifted her gaze between the two. Akane could tell that she knew something wasn't right. By now, Akane would have hit her and/or would have-

SPLASH~

* * *

And so Shampoo was now a cat, Akane occupied Ranma's female form, and Ranma was already running away with an empty bucket in his hands. Immediately, Shampoo sunk her claws into Ranma's body prepared for his 'freak out and escape the cat' routine. However, it never came. Akane winced and swatted fiercely at the cat until it released its claws from her skin.

"Great. Now I'm soaked AND late. Can I just get to school now." Akane spat venomously. She glared at the cat and Shampoo simply cocked her furry head in confusion. What was going on?

Well, she surely couldn't go on a date like this… and Ranma definitely wasn't acting right. Looking at the retreating form of Akane, Shampoo shook her head. Neither of them were acting right.

Maybe it was just her. It might have just been an off day.

Off day or not, she could not date Ranma like this. She leapt off in the direction of the Cat Café to change.

* * *

Akane hated to admit it, but Ranma's body, both male and female sides, was very fit and well trained. It hadn't taken her much time to catch up with her fleeing body.

"Hey Dummy!" she spat, not wanting to waste time with words.

Ranma didn't answer, flung the empty bucket behind him, and continued running.

"RANMA! Do you really want me walking into school like this?"

Finally, Ranma looked back, breathing labored, and grimaced. "Shampoo's not with you, right?"

Akane stopped and stared at him incredulously. "Of course not. I'm not like you, you know. I wouldn't invite all of my thousands of destructive fiancés to school so that they could destroy it."

Ranma, seemingly oblivious to her statement, sighed in relief. "I-I guess even in your body… I'm still afraid of cats…"

Akane rolled her eyes, "Of course, genius. Our bodies switched, not our minds. And quite frankly, that is the one thing I'm glad for at this moment."

Ranma sneered at the statement, then, as if unnoticeable before, took in her current state. "You can't go to school as me… like that.

Akane sighed exasperatedly, "I could have sworn I mentioned that already." She look down the street to the school gate, a mere few yards away. "Besides, it's not like everyone doesn't already know. We're going to be late for school." She began heading down he street once again despite Ranma's protest.

"But it's my body! I don't want go to school as a girl… I never have! Come on! Let's go to Dr. Tofu's and change back."

"YOU don't have control over this situation. Unfortunately for you, you're stuck as a girl until we can switch back." Akane hadn't slowed her pace.

Ranma, frustrated, stormed after her. "Yeah! Just my luck! Stuck as an un-cute tomboy for the rest of the day! You could have at least built up a shape before this happened!"

Akane stopped in her tracks and turned to him, aura blazing. "It's YOUR fault in the first place! Don't blame me because you're to STUPID to even take care of an un-cute girl when she's sick! It's not like I have anything that would distract you, right?"

Without waiting for a response, she turned and sprinted into the school gates without looking back.

Ranma stared after her, angry at himself for getting them into this. However, he was more upset at the fact that, despite all their 'training', Akane STILL managed to make him look like a girl while in his body. This was going to be a ridiculously long day.

* * *

It wasn't until she walked through the gates and everyone stared awkwardly at her that she realized something was up. It's not like no one knew that Ranma was cursed, right?

But why were they…

"MY PIGTAILED GODDESS!"

Of course.

Akane took a moment to think things through. Yes… Ranma had admitted to his curse. No… Ranma hadn't taken the time to explain things to Kuno, the oblivious. That meant…

DAMN!

She turned to sprint, only to realize that it was too late. Kuno already had her embraced and smashed into him in what he would call a 'lover's embrace'.

"Oh, My dearest Pigtailed Girl! Let me guess, you've come to cheer for your protector whilst running to escape the clutches of that wicked Sorcerer, Saotome. I understand… Th-"

Akane swung her foot back hitting the fool in his thigh. "GET OFF OF ME!"

He groaned, then tightened his grip. "I know it must be hard for-"

Akane felt his grip swing from around her shortly after a 'thwack' was heard.

Ranma, foot still poised where Kuno's head, was fuming. It took all he had to fight back a retort about Kuno touching 'his' body. This moment required no more awkwardness than already present.

Kuno, got up from his position on the ground and looked between the two. "Wh-Who to choose? The beautiful yet fierce Akane Tendo or the Fiery, Hot-Spirited-"

He wasn't allowed to finish before Akane's foot collided with the side of his face and Ranma's fist following behind it, knocking him across the field.

They looked at each other then looked away, ashamed and embarrassed. The two switched teenagers then proceeded into the school without another word or a glance back at the confused and bemused faces of the crowd of students.

Meanwhile…

Nabiki watched from the window of her classroom with a grin on her face.

She turned away as the younger teenagers walked, defeated, into the school.

If she played this right, she would not only keep their secret safe, she's also have the most amusing time of her life.

* * *

**OKAY… I KNOW IT'S BEEN ALMOST A YEAR.**

**I know you guys probably hate me. But I figured I'd type out a quick chapter (half of it has been sitting here for half of a year) and get inspired by all of those reviews… I wouldn't be surprised if you guys didn't review… I know you hate me.**

**I live a busy life… and when that busy life involves no internet… and then internet… and then school… and then k-pop comebacks and obsessions, fan fictions kind of get lost in my head.**

**I hope you guys like this chapter. I don't know when I'll update next, but it will not be as long as I've kept you've waiting for this… I hope**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Yes this is exactly what you think it is - an update. A long, overdue, 2-or-3-years-waited for update. I'll explain more at the end of this chapter, but until then, don't throw slippers at me and just read, please.**

* * *

**_Chapter 6_**

If time were to go any slower, the Earth would probably seem like it had been frozen. Ranma glanced up at the clock again and sighed. Had it really been only ten minutes since he'd been in this class? And to make matters worse, he had endured every moment of it due to the fact that Akane had forbade him to be late while he was in her body. Usually, he would take a leisurely stroll around the school before entering class, surely wasting at least five minutes of class time. He was so stealthy, the teachers almost never caught him sneaking in anyway. Now, those five extra minutes of being in class were weighing him down and stirring anxiety in him.

He looked at the clock again; another minute had ticked by. At that, he groaned and slumped in her chair. Not only had Akane forced him to be on time, she threatened him to stay awake during the entire class period. Considering the fact that he couldn't even muster the energy to stay awake in class when he occupied his own body, he had no idea how or why Akane had expected something different from him now. His ever stubborn consciousness was his downfall when it came to heeding Akane's warnings, so it was inevitable that he would lie her head down on the desk and let his thoughts and her eyes wander. Being in Akane's body did nothing to alter his way of thinking or his values, and he was ever grateful for that one leisure in this whole demented situation.

The lesson wasn't important anyway; the teacher was just teaching some redundant Chinese history and going over a few of symbols and their meanings. He'd catch up eventually, right? Without any effort, Ranma found his… or Akane's… head buried in his arms, her eyes fluttering close and the sound of the teacher's droning voice fading with his consciousness.

* * *

Notes. Notes. Notes.

Akane knew she owed nothing to Ranma who was probably, per her request… or threat, struggling his hardest not to plant her face on her desk in History class and clock out, for which she didn't blame him, but she felt kind of wrong not taking notes in English class even if it was working towards Ranma's grades and not hers. From what she knew, Ranma was just barely passing English along with many of his other academic subjects, and he didn't care enough for any of the classes to do any extra credit. The only class he was passing with flying colors, of course, was physical education; he was so good that he should probably be teaching the class himself. Not that she would ever admit that to his face; a boost to his pride would send it off into space. Regardless, she would rather help Ranma out this once while she occupied his body, than sit here and do nothing.

She took a moment to glace at the clock; it had only been 20 minutes since class began. She wondered if Ranma had even made an attempt to do some of her work when he got to class. If she heard even one complaint from one of her teachers, she'd never let him hear the end of it. But hopefully she wouldn't have to worry too much longer. Hopefully, this whole body switching situation would be solved by the end of today and they could just move on and pretend it never happened. In the back of her mind, though, she knew this situation would tie into all the others just like everything else that happened in Nerima. But as much as she was concerned about the outcome, she just wanted to have her own body back, and at this point, she didn't care what complications came with it. Even _thinking_ that was risky, considering everything that _could_ happen, probably _would_ happen after this. But for now, she wouldn't think negatively. She would only focus on getting out of this and –

"Mr. Saotome! Being that you are awake for once, it would do you some good to actually pay attention and take notes, thank you."

Akane blinked, registering that the teacher was addressing the body she currently resided in, and sighed. Yes, this wouldn't last long at all.

Hopefully.

* * *

Ranma grumbled his way through the hallway, bumping shoulders with any and every passerby and not caring for their inert glares. The blush on his/Akane's face was furious and he could only pretend to be enraged so that curious and nosy classmates wouldn't ask questions.

_"Akane you're usually my best student. You're the only student to never have fallen asleep in my class. But today, you were snoring so loud, you even woke up some of the other sleeping students."  
_  
Ranma knew he should have lied when she asked if he/Akane was sick. Before he could even think of it however, he answered her with a 'no' and a faltering smile. The teacher's retort after that is what had his/Akane's face so red at this very moment, even though it had taken place at least 5 minutes ago.

_"Well, if you aren't sick, Akane,"_ the teacher began, a mischievous and knowing smile forming on her face, _"I'm going to ask that you and your fiancé not engage in any late night activities on Sunday evening. You need to be prepared and alert for class in the morning and you're certainly weren't that today, and I'm willing to bet Ranma isn't in much better shape, huh."  
_  
Ranma knew he should have walked away right at that moment, pretending to either be ignoring the teacher or just to show disgust, but shock had him glued to the spot, looking up at the bold teacher with wide eyes. He began, or at least tried to stammer his denials and rejections, but the teacher only leaned in, her smile widening a bit, and winked.

_"I'm a married woman, Akane. I know things. It's okay and I understand. Just try not to… handle your business too late at night. Okay, off to class now!"_

Ranma only reddened more at the recollection of the conversation. Since when had teachers ever been so bold? Or are they only bold like that with the female students? Or was it only with Akane? And did they always say things like this to Akane? And how did she usually respond?

It was too much to process for Ranma right now and he could only shake his head, hoping to clear some of the embarrassment he was feeling. It didn't work. The only thing that could redirect his attention right now was Gym class, and thankfully, that was next on Akane's schedule. Unfortunately, it was also what was next on his usual schedule that Akane was following today. It would be his first time seeing her today since they arrived at school, and after what just occurred with her History teacher, he wasn't sure he wanted to face Akane so soon.

_'Quit acting like such a girl, Ranma. You didn't do anything wrong anyway!_' he mentally chided himself. He approached the girls' changing room without hesitation and entered with a new found vigor. He would not allow himself to be bested by Akane, or what her life entailed. His life was still 1,000 times more hectic and embarrassing than hers.

And he'd let her know it too.

* * *

Akane knew a blush was creeping up Ranma's neck as she recalled her scenery from her first venture into the boys' changing room. It was bad enough she wasn't even used to Ranma's male body yet, now she was surrounded by guys who she had just seen semi-dressed and some even nude. She almost felt as if she was being cursed for being so judgmental of boys in the past, more specifically, Ranma.

Now as she and the guys jostled outside to the gym class equipment, she found herself scanning the field for Ranma clad in her body which would be clad in the skimpy gym uniform. She tried not to be enthusiastic about seeing him uncomfortable in the uniform. Of course he'd been forced into that exact uniform plenty of times before and he sometimes even wore it to harass Ryoga for some reason, but this felt like it should be a different situation to him, _'should'_ being the key word.

_'Yeah, right. Knowing that pervert, he's living it up right now,'_ she thought. Still, she hoped she was right about him feeling uncomfortable. It would serve him right for getting them into this situation in the first place.

Akane realized she hadn't been paying attention to where they were walking and got snapped to attention by bumping into the boy in front of her. She muttered a, "Sorry," and shrugged off her embarrassment. The boy turned and looked at her with quirked eyebrow and scoffed; it was Hiroshi.

"Yeah, yeah, Ranma. Keep your apologies for right now. I'm just waiting for you to tell me what's going on," Hiroshi said. A boy behind her nudged her a bit and she turned, trying to avoid Hiroshi's prodding. Unfortunately, the boy behind her, Daisuke, had the same quizzical look in his eyes.

"Yeah, you've been acting off all day, Ranma," Daisuke said, frowning a bit, "You get into a fight with Akane or something?"

Akane only grunted in response, sitting along with the rest of the guys in the class as the first victim approached the uneven bars. She crossed his arms over his broad chest and did not grace Ranma's friends with a response. Apparently, not responding wasn't an option with these two as they only leaned in closer and nudged her harder.

"Well if it's not a fight, then what?" Hiroshi inferred, a smirk playing at his lips.

"Did you guys try to work out your relationship problems again?" Daisuke raised both of his eyebrows. Akane almost choked at the insinuation. What had Ranma been telling them?!

"No, nothing –" she began, but was instantly cut off.

"Did things get physical?"

"Did she hit you?"

"Did she touch you?"

"Did things escalate quickly?"

"Did you guys get intimate? Oh, maybe not. You wouldn't be in such a pissy mood if you did."

At that, Akane slugged them both in the jaw causing them to fall back hard into the grass. The muscles in his jaw clenched and unclenched in sync with his fists. She couldn't tell if she was red from embarrassment or anger, but she did know she was, above all, seething. How dare they? Were these the kind of things Ranma was planting in their heads or was this their way of voicing their own stupidity?

Akane cut his eyes at the two fallen figures beside her, then looked up, jaw still clenched and glare still sharp as ever. Either everyone was used to this kind of scene or people were smart enough to avoid 'Ranma' when he was enraged because no one seemed to notice the falling-out. Something about that comforted her but she couldn't bother to investigate why.

Just as she was about to look away, she caught a glimpse of a scantily clad form approaching the vault that the girls' gym class was using; her own body. The stubborn part of her conscious that told her that Ranma had discussed their personal business with the perverted Hiroshi and Daisuke wanted her to either get up and confront him with a slap or look away in a huff, but she found herself able to do neither. She could only stare in admiration. She didn't want to seem vain, but she thought her body looked pretty good from an objective standpoint. She looked lean and lithe in all the right places and that, to her, made up for her chest… or lack thereof, as Ranma often liked to pint out. She frowned.

She watched attentively as Ranma began his sprint towards the vault in her body. Even in just sprinting his form seemed perfect. He launched her body effortlessly off the vault from a handspring and planted her hands firmly against the table, using the momentum to propel her lithe body high into the air. You would think he spent minutes in the air with the amount of flips and twists he was performing. As he hurdled towards the ground while in a perfect tuck, he unfurled and tightened his form. He stuck the landing as perfectly as he began the process. She couldn't help but be impressed; he certainly did make her look good while he occupied her body. However, Akane couldn't decide whether to be pleased or bothered by this. It was her body – he couldn't possibly make it look better than she did. _Could he?_

"Ranma! You're up!" the gym teacher called, snapping her out of her stupor. She got up and stalked towards the bars, purposely ignoring the glower of irritation Hiroshi and Daisuke shot her. She quenched the nervousness in his stomach, refusing to feel intimidated by Ranma's success. It wasn't that she wanted to make him look good – she just wanted to perform better than him.

She glanced up at the bars and instantly noticed that they were taller than the bars that the girls used. Thanks to Ranma's height in his male form, she wouldn't need to adjust much in her form – she just needed to adjust to Ranma's body weight to get the right momentum when she was swinging. This would be a piece of cake. Before she reached to leverage herself on the bars she happened to glance up in the direction she had last seen her body and caught Ranma looking at her. She felt a smiled creeping onto her face involuntarily but it instantly faded when Ranma crossed her arms over her chest and opened her mouth to say something.

_"Don't make me look bad!"_ She could read his lips perfectly.

_'That jerk!'_ She was busy wishing that she hadn't looked in his direction at all as she glared daggers into her own retreating back. So busy, that she hadn't taken notice how hard she was gripping the uneven bar. She'd make him look amazing. She'd do a thousand times better than he ever could. And he'd thank her for it, too.

Oh, she'd make him look good, alright.

* * *

Ranma sat down under the tree next to his body, sneering as the patches of light that forced their way through the tree leaves and hit his face. Lunch was no special ordeal today – curry bread, rice, and takoyaki – but the way his/Akane's stomach was grumbling, he knew he would easily demolish the meal.

Akane, who sat next to him, donning his body, was beyond cross.

"So, tell me again how you managed to twist _my _wrist on something as easy as the uneven bars, hm," Ranma said, pulling apart his chopsticks and digging into his lunch.

"I already told you, I lost focus. It's your own fault anyway. If you weren't such a jerk—"

"What do you mean a jerk?" Ranma asked, mouth stuffed with food, crumbs decorating her face, "All I said was don't make me look bad! I mean, I made you look amazing out there and you go and sprain my wrist doing something so easy!"

"_You_ made _me_ look amazing? Please, Ranma, what you did was nothing special. I could do what you did with one hand tied behind my back." He watch as his own face twisted in anger.

"Yeah, as long as it's not the hand you sprained," Ranma scoffed. Akane snarled and snapped his head away. Ranma opened his mouth to comment on how feminine she was making him seem, but decided against it and returned his attention to his lunch.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" he asked, noticing Akane's lack of food.

"No. I figured I'd make you starve a little. Maybe it'll shrink your disgusting appetite."

"It ain't gonna hurt me none. You're the only one who's gonna be hungry. But suit yourself," Ranma said. He couldn't help but smile at the little mumble of defeat she gave as triumph swelled in him.

"I'm not even hungry for your information, Ranma. All I am focused on is getting to that library and figuring out how to get back into my own body before you destroy it."

"You and me, both," he retorted. After carefully picking up and eating the last grain of rice in his bento, Ranma stood and dusted her dress. "Hold this for me, would you?" he said as he began to retreat into the school leaving his Akane-occupied body under the tree.

Unbeknownst to him, Akane smiled at his little gesture, almost grateful. She was going to yell at him for being so inconsiderate but then she looked down into the container. Ranma had left two big pieces of takoyaki in the bento for her to eat. She wanted to eat them begrudgingly but her small smile gave her away instantly. Even if Ranma was just trying to keep his own body healthy by feeding her, sometimes he wasn't _that_ much of a jerk.

* * *

As much as Akane hated being unnecessarily rude, she didn't bother to apologize as she pushed through the throng of students that crowded the halls as soon as the final bell rung. She retrieved Ranma's shoes and slipped them on his feet, shouldered his pack and rushed to the library. As she pushed through, she was relieved to not be glared at too much. She figured that the entire student body must be used to Ranma being so brash and she had to admit it came in handy sometimes.

She pulled the doors of the library open harder than she meant to and they slammed back against the walls, the sound reverberating in the library. Every head turned towards her and she lowered his head and muttered a sheepish, "Sorry," finally. Over her initial embarrassment, she stalked past the rows of books, looking for the familiar face – her own. Eventually, she spotted her body, nose deep in a book scrawled in Chinese calligraphy.

He looked up at her, her eyebrows furrowed in deep thought before opening her mouth to say, "I can't read this."

With a mock incredulous look, she replied in a hushed but annoyed tone, "Of course you can't read it! That's the reason we're in this situation now!"

Ranma grunted a response then tossed the book to her which she nonchalantly caught with one hand. Ranma snorted at this.

"Aren't my reflexes amazing, Akane?"

"Shut up, Ranma." Akane warned, rolling her eyes as she flipped open the book. Sure enough, it was just as foreign as she expected it to be.

"This isn't what we need," she stated, pushing the book back onto the shelf. She walked down the aisle a bit and nodded as she picked up another book.

"Chinese to Japanese translation. Perfect." She leafed through the book, then looked up at Ranma expectantly. "You have the pill package, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Ranma hastily replied, fumbling though the pockets on her school uniform. Eventually, he found the package and tossed it over to Akane. She looked it over and turned it a few times in his hands, scanning the words and looking back to the pages in the translation book.

"Okay, this might take some time. I need a pen, paper, and somewhere to sit. We are translating every word on this thing, right now."

* * *

For the second time that day, Ranma found himself watching the time tick by painstakingly slow. He could even swear that the clock in the library was going even slower than the one in the classroom. This time, though, he figure that his impatience was not because of boredom, but because of anxiety. Akane had been at this translating thing for quite some time trying to get every little detail right so that they wouldn't have to endure this process again. All he wanted was to be back in his body and he knew Akane wanted the same, so he didn't blame her for taking extra precaution to make sure they did everything right.

"Okay," Akane finally spoke in his voice, "I think I got it."

Ranma perked up at this and was peering over Akane's/his shoulder in a flash. There were a lot of scribbles and cross-outs on the page but she rewrote the decipherable words in order at the bottom where both of their gazes were transfixed and, from his perspective, they read it together.

_**Are you sick of your current lifestyle?  
Wish you could switch lives with someone who you think deserves your pain?  
Then, this is the remedy for you!  
Simply take one pill yourself, give another person the other pill, and fall asleep.  
In the morning you'll be better than ever; a new life!**_  
_*Fine print: Some side effects may occur*_

After reading this, Ranma could feel Akane's glare burning holes into him. He only sighed irritably, then turned to meet her glare and said, "What about the cure? Didn't you read or translate something about a cure?!"

"Calm down, Ranma. I was only translating, I wasn't focused on reading every detail at the moment, sheesh. There's more…" she said, flipping the page over, revealing more inked scribbles and indiscernible words. He flinched. The bold, yet delicate text that was Akane's handwriting at the bottom of the page looked menacing without him even reading it. Despite his initial hesitation, he swallowed the lump in his throat and leaned in closer, giving each word his attention just like Akane looked like she was doing now.

_**THERE IS ONLY **_**ONE**_** WAY TO REVERSE THE EFFECT.  
BOTH PARTIES MUST LEARN TO TRULY UNDERSTAND AND APPRECIATE THEIR PAST LIFE, AND THE DAILY LIFE OF THE BODY THEY CURRENTLY RESIDE IN. ONLY THEN WILL THEY BE RETURNED TO THEIR RIGHTFUL BODIES.**_

_**Until then, have fun!**_

"T-This can't be right," Ranma heard Akane whisper hoarsely in his voice.

"There… There has to be another way," Ranma looked to Akane, wide-eyed, trying but failing to comfort both of their reeling thoughts. _'There just has to be!' _

"I… I cannot believe this. Ranma, YOU _IDIOT_!"

Whether Akane didn't realize her mix-up, or she didn't care that their bodies were switched anymore, Ranma couldn't tell. But the big red handprint on his/Akane's cheek spoke volumes either way. Still, he didn't blame her. Now that they both knew there was no simple solution to the switch – like a pill to simply switch them back – he only felt numbness. He was shocked from his stupor by the slam of the library door, which he presumed was Akane making an angry exit.

_'What the hell are we supposed to do now?'_

* * *

_Click. Click. Click._

Nabiki now had enough pictures of their reactions to garner a truckload of yen. With the expressions on their faces, it would be perfectly easy to edit the pictures of the two distraught teens to make it seem like they were in more… compromising situations. Still, her promise to leave Akane's and Ranma's relationship alone lingered in her brain. Trust and believe Nabiki Tendo though, she would find _some way_, to work this to her advantage.

If she didn't know any better she would guess from the expressions on their faces that they discovered that there was no cure to their current _issue_. She could see the crumbled piece of paper on the table where Akane and Ranma had spent almost an entire hour deciphering the words on the package that she assumed held the answers to their problems. All she had to do was wait for Ranma to leave and –

"Akane – I mean Ranma! Wait up!"

Perfect. Poor predictable and unassuming future Brother-in-Law. Nabiki nonchalantly strode over to the table and picked up the paper. _'Younger people are so dramatic, sometimes. It can't be that –'_ she thought as she turned over the paper to continue reading. The bold print, unmistakably her sister's, was urgent and not at all comforting, to her dismay. She genuinely gasped.

"Uh oh."

* * *

**A/N: Yes, the big revelation, finally. Ranma and Akane aren't getting out of this so easily, not when I'm having so much fun torturing them!**

**Anyways, I know a lot of you are wondering what took me so long to update, and I don't have many excuses to be quite honest. Last time I updated was around this time in 2011. It's 2013 now. So that means it was the end of my 10th grade year and now I'm a college freshman being that I just graduated high school. Basically, my life has been hectic as all hell. But I've had plenty of free time in these past couple of years. I'm just LAZY as all hell. I guess I can blame writer's block and make that take some of the fault, but even some is a bit much. I also got deeply involved in Tumblr at that time, but that's another story in itself. *Insert nervous laughter here***

**But enough about me, what about you guys? Are the people who were following me before still following me? Have you all given up on me updating this story? Did you enjoy this chapter? Has my writing change/improved? I hope I didn't confuse you all with the his/her thing, but it was easier for me to format it like that so I could remember that Akane is in Ranma's body and vice versa. I'm in the process of doing a chapter replacement and fixing my grammar in the previous chapters so don't bit my head off too much about that either. So far, only chapter 1 has been edited.**

**Whatever you want me to know, leave it in the reviews please!**

**P.S: Feel lucky you guys. I had another story I've been typing up (Powerpuff girls this time) and planning to post on here but I figured it wouldn't at ll be fair to the fans of this story. I DO CARE YOU GUYS. DO YOU?! **

**See ya when I see ya! Hopefully soon! Hopefully not 2 or even 1 year from now! Hopefully and most likely in a matter of weeks considering that fact that I'm on summer vacay with nothing to do! Til then, Tatty-Bye my loves!**

R&R


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